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WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



Nos. I. & II. 



I. ON THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE. 

II. ON PARDONS AND INDULGENCES 

GRANTED BY THE POPE. 



SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 
SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, 
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE ; 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 




LONDON: 



Printed for the 



[652] 



1846. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts are the first of a series intended to be 
issued on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published :— 

I. Ox the Supremacy of the Pope. 
II. Ox Pardons axd Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. Ox the Ixvocatiox of Saints and Axgels. 

IV. Ox the Invocation of Saints and Angels. —Evi- 

dence of the Old Testament against it. 

V. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the New Testament against it. 

VI. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Primitive Church against it. 

VII. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Primitive Church against it— [con- 
tinued]. $lj.T 




WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



On the Supremacy of the Pope. 

The root and groundwork of much of the evil which 
for many centuries oppressed the nations of Christen- 
dom, (our own country not less than others,) was, in 
the assumption by Rome, of universal sovereignty 
over all the churches and all the kingdoms of the 
world, and of infallibility vested in her sovereign pon- 
tiff. The advocates of Roman supremacy claim the 
whole of Christ's fold as Rome's heritage. The 
Bishop of Rome they maintain to be the sole vicar 
of Christ, his vicegerent and representative on earth. 
Except in the communion of Rome, they deny that 
there is any spiritual safety. The doctrines sanctioned 
by the Pope are all put on an equality with the plainest 
revelations of the written word of God; for them all 
they claim the same certainty. Not content with 
spiritual dominion over the consciences of Christians, 
the Popes assume to themselves a divine right to 
dethrone kings, to release the subjects of any Govern- 
ment from their allegiance, and to shut out from the 
fold of Christ all who impede or refuse to second the 
Court of Rome in the exercise of these powers. 

We in England have been so long accustomed to the 
protection which our constitution is strong enough to 
guarantee to us all against the attacks of any foreign 
tyranny, spiritual or temporal, that we not only feel 
easy as to any future interference on the part of 
Rome affecting our spiritual liberty and political 
independence, but we can scarcely, without an effort, 
conceive that our country ever was in reality exposed 
to any such dangers as we are now contemplating. 
We are incredulous as to the facts alleged — we sus- 
pect some mistake, either wilful or involuntary, as to 
the actual exercise of such enormous and monstrous 

A 2 



4 On the Supremacy of the Pope. 

power by the Court of Rome,; we consequently feel 
not so much need of proofs to show that the assump- 
tion of such power by any man, or any body of men, 
is unjustifiable; we want rather to be satisfied that 
such powers have been claimed and exercised— that 
the doctrine of the sovereignty and infallibility of the 
Pope is inherent in the papal system, and has been 
carried into execution in our own country; for what- 
ever it may be in words, however monstrous in theory, 
if it never was accompanied by any outward and tan- 
gible act which might endanger the peace and threaten 
the liberties of our native land or our colonies, we 
might well let it pass as a dead letter. 

To know then what in this point Rome has actually 
been in spirit and in practice, and what therefore, 
under a combination of favourable events, Rome may 
to our peril and cost be again, we need not have 
recourse to the early history of our people, when all 
professed one religion and all acknowledged allegiance 
to Rome (though many a dark page in that history 
abounds with evidence to the same point) ; nor need 
we rely on our own documentary annals, nor on the 
testimony of our accredited historians ; abundant proof, 
evidence beyond gainsaying or suspicion, is contained 
to this very day in the records of Rome itselt. We 
need look only to the bull or letters apostolic, as the 
Pope's decrees are called, by which Pope Pius the 
Fifth excommunicated and condemned our Queen 
Elizabeth, and as far as he could, deprived her of her 
throne; absolved her subjects from their oath of alle- 
giance; and laid under the same curse and anathema 
111 who dared to maintain her rights, or adhere to her 
as their sovereign. This indisputable proof of what 
Rome has shown herself to be, even since the reform- 
ation of religion in England, and what she might be 
azain, if from morbid delicacy or care essness _ we 
bttray our trust, and cease to guard ourselves against 
*he revival of such extravagant pretensions, is recorded 
in the second volume of the Roman Pontiff s decrees 



On the Supremacy of the Pope. 5 

called the Bullarium. It bears date April 27th, 1570, 
(that is in the fifth year of his pontificate, the twelfth 
year of Elizabeth's reign,) and is entitled "The Con- 
demnation and Excommunication of Elizabeth Queen 
of England and of her Adherents, with the addition of 
other punishments, by Pope Pius the Fifth." Among 
other passages are the following : — 

" He who reigns on high, to whom all power is 
given in heaven and in earth, delivered one holy Ca- 
tholic and Apostolic Church, without the pale of which 
is no salvation, to one only person in earth, namely, 
to the prince (or chief, principi) of the Apostles, to 
Peter, and to Peter's successor, the Roman Pontiff, 
to be governed in the plenitude of power. This one 
person he appointed prince (or chief) over all nations 
and all kingdoms, to pluck up, to destroy, to scatter 
abroad, to disperse, to plant, and to build, that he might 
in the unity of the Spirit keep together the faithful 
people, bound by the tie of mutual charity, and present 
them safe and unhurt to their Saviour. . . But 
the number of impious men has so increased in power, 
that no place in the world is now left which they have 
not tried to corrupt by the worst doctrines: among 
others, Elizabeth, the servant of wickedness, the pre- 
tended Queen of England, adding her endeavours; 
with whom, as their asylum, the most hostile of all 
have found a refuge." 

Then having enumerated her alleged crimes and 
impieties, that she had in a monstrous manner usurped 
to herself the place of supreme head and chief authority 
in the Church in all England, compelling her subjects 
to abjure the authority of the Roman Pontiff, and on 
their oath to acknowledge herself as sovereign in 
temporal and spiritual matters, arid not suffering the 
Pope's nuncios to pass over into England to reason 
and remonstrate with her, the Pope proceeds :— 

"We, by necessity driven to the arms of justice 
against her, cannot soothe our grief that we are led to 
punish one whose ancestors deserved so well of the 

a 3 



6 " On the Supremacy of ike Pope. 

Christian commonwealth; wherefore upheld by the 
authority of him who willed to place us (though 
unequal to such- a work) on this supreme throne of 
justice, we, of the plenitude of the -Apostolic power, 
declare* that the aforesaid Elizabeth, being a heretic 
and the favourer of heretics, and those who adhere 
to her in the matters aforesaid, have incurred the sen- 
tence of cursing, and are cut off from the unity of 
Christ's body ; and moreover that she herself is de- 
prived of her pretended right to the kingdom aforesaid, 
and also of all and every kind of dominion, dignity, 
and privilege; and likewise that the nobles, subjects, 
and people of the said kingdom, and all others who 
have in any way whatever sworn to her, are for ever 
absolved from such oath, and utterly from all obliga- 
tion of dominion, fealty, and obedience, as we by 
authority of these presents do absolve them ; and we 
denrive the same Elizabeth of her pretended right of 
the kingdom, and of all others aforesaid; and we 
charge and forbid all and singular the nobles, subjects, 
people, and others aforesaid, that they dare not obey 
her or her admonitions, commands, and laws. Whoso- 
ever shall act otherwise, them we bind by like sentence 
of cursing." 

Now it pleased the King of Heaven, by whom 
earthly kings reign, that this anathema of the Sove- 
reign Pontiff deposing the Queen of England should 
falf lifeless to the ground ; but that was, because the 
adherents of Rome were too weak to carry his will and 
decree into execution. Our own history tells us of 
an earlier time when the Pope's malediction and in- 
terdict threw misery and mourning over the whole 
land ; as this anathema of excommunication and de- 
thronement would have done, had his supporters 
been sufficiently numerous and powerful. Rome 
has never abandoned the right to which that # Pope 
laid claim; and as long as she usurps the title of 
mistress and queen of all nations, and clings to 
her commission to pull down and destroy, agree- 



On the Supremacy of the Pope. 



7 



ably to the dictates of lier own infallibility, so long 
our duty to God, to our Church, to our nation, 
and to our children's children, calls .upon us as wise 
men to guard against the most remote return of such 
danger ; to take provident measures that Rome shall 
hereafter gain no footing in England. Our firm re- 
solve on this point must never lead us to judge harshly, 
or act unkindly, or entertain a wish to interfere with 
the consciences of individuals. To our fellow-subjects 
who acknowledge the supremacy of Rome, we must 
show all forbearance and charity, cheerfully conceding 
to them the same liberty of conscience which we claim 
as our own birthright. But let us take good care that 
the temptation be never laid before them of joining 
together, and with others, in upholding the aggressive 
authority of Rome against the liberties of this country. 
Doubtless for the overthrow of our Church, Atheists, 
Infidels, and various classes of professed Christians, 
all opposed to Rome, would gladly confederate with 
Rome itself. 

Circumstances, how improbable soever now, may 
conspire to bring about such a combination : and ne- 
cessity is laid upon us to be on our guard against the 
united efforts of such heterogeneous enemies, and in 
this view it is well for us never to speak of the supre- 
macy claimed by the Pope as a harmless shadow. It 
may suit the purposes of the adherents of ^ Rome 
in our own times to represent these precautions as 
the fruits of unworthy suspicions, groundless anti- 
cipations, the dreams of bigotry, fitted rather for 
benighted ages long passed away, than for the 
enlightened liberality of modern times. But our 
spiritual inheritance is too valuable in itself, and too 
dear to us for any fear of such hard names to drive us 
from its present defence, or from prospective measures 
for its future safety. It is the best treasure bequeathed 
to us by our forefathers, and with God's blessing we 
will deliver it down whole and entire to our children's 
children. 

a4 



8 



On the Supremacy of the Pope* 



If we enquire into the origin of this claim 
of the Roman Pontiff to supreme and universal 
dominion over all the churches of the world, we find, 
by the most searching examination of the earliest 
authentic records, that the assumption of such dignity 
and power was never made on the part of Rome till 
after many centuries from the time of our Lord's death. 

The primitive church never recognised such a claim, 
nor ever heard of it» There is no allusion to it in 
Scripture, nor in the remains of the most remote an- 
tiquity. It resulted as one of the many accumulated 
and various changes, which time and opportunities 
brought about in opposition to the primitive and apos- 
tolic system. Pagan Rome had reduced the nations 
of the world under its own iron sceptre ; and the 
spiritual tyranny of papal Rome, gradually step by 
step, here a little and there a little, as favourable 
occasions offered, was built upon the same foundation. 
To those who would for themselves sift the evidence 
on which these assertions are made, may be recom- 
mended a work full of sound reasoning, extensive 
learning, and Christian charity, written by John Henry 
Hopkins, bishop of Vermont, in America, who proves 
these points beyond all doubt and gainsaying by a 
calm, and searching, and candid examination of those 
very fathers and writers of the early Christian Church, 
against whose testimony Rome cannot demur; for 
they are the very authors, whose authority she herself 
maintains in her canon law \ The work, too, of Dr. 
Isaac Barrow, entitled 'A Treatise on the Pope's 
Supremacy,' deserves the especial examination of all 
who feel anxious to make themselves masters of this 
subject. 

1 This work is entitled " The Church of Rome in her primitive 
purity, compared with the Church of Rome at the present day, being a 
candid examination of her claims to universal dominion, addressed in 
the spirit of Christian kindness to the Roman Hierarchy." The first 
edition was published in America in the year 1837 ; the English edi- 
tion appeared in 1839, with a valuable preface by the Rev. Henry 
MelviU. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



No. II. 



ON 



PARDONS AND INDULGENCES GRANTED 
BY THE POPE. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

It must be remembered throughout, that the object 
before us is not to fasten on individuals of the Church 
of Rome doctrines or views which they disclaim ; it 
is to endeavour, as honest and prudent men, to pre- 
serve our Church and nation from any return of those 
corruptions in doctrine and practice, from which the 
Reformation set us free. In pursuing this end, we can- 
not rest satisfied with the partial and rhetorical represen- 
tation of Roman tenets and Roman practices, which is 
now sometimes made in their pulpits by preachers of that 
Church before mixed congregations, and is not infre- 
quently issued from the press. Especially at this time 
when the members of that Church are engaged with re- 
newed ardour,andalmostunprecedented zeal in making 
the religion of Rome palatable to our countrymen, 
and facilitating by every device the path of the pro- 
selyte, we must, in fairness, see what were the 
current practical doctrines which the Reformation 
banished from our Church ; what our forefathers were 
taught, before England threw off the yoke of Rome ; 
nay, what they were compelled to believe and ac- 
quiesce in, or else submit to the curse of excommuni- 
cation. On the assumed supremacy of the Roman 
Pontiff we have spoken in another part; our thoughts 
are now drawn to the power assumed by the Pope, 

a 6 



12 Pardons and Indulgences 



and his priesthood under him, of granting pardons 
(or as they were familiarly called indulgences), — 
that is, a release, on certain conditions, from all, or a 
portion of the temporal punishment otherwise due to sin 
from God's justice,— the benefit, whatever it be, to be 
derived to the guilty soul from the ministration of the 
Roman hierarchy, either in this world, or after death 
has closed our time of probation. 

On the subject of this chapter we may freely confess 
that, were not the very books themselves (not reprints, 
but the originals,) still in existence, we could scarcely 
have believed any testimony as to what they really con- 
tained. But (happily for the truth's sake) various 
copies of the books themselves, printed before the^ Re- 
formation, are still in existence, preserved in our libra- 
ries, and accessible to all. We need not say, "Our 
ears have heard, our fathers tell ;" our own eyes see 
what was then the doctrine of pardon and indulgences ; 
what power the popes of Rome actually assumed over 
the dead as well as the living. No doubt the 
monstrous forms which these spiritual wickednesses 
had assumed, had so disgusted Christendom, and 
threatened so loudly and intelligibly to shake the 
very throne of Rome, that resolutions were passed in 
the Council of Trent to check the enormity of the 
evil. The council forbade that "wicked gains * 
[pravos qusestus] should be derived from the granting 
of indulgences; and directed the Bishops to inquire 
into other abuses, and report them to the Pope, " lest 
by the too great ease of obtaining indulgences, eccle- 
siastical discipline might be weakened." — Dec. 4, 
1563. But the evil exists even to the present day, 
as we shall see before the close of this chapter, in 
its very same nature, though its most monstrous 
shapes are no longer visible among us in England. 
These are dark and melancholy subjects, and we will 
not dwell upon them at any unnecessary length; 
but we must not disguise the reality, or extenuate the 
greatness of the evil. 



granted by the Pope. 13 

In our own times we have been told by preachers 
and writers of the Roman Church in our own country, 
that all that is meant by indulgences is, "a releas- 
ing, by the power of the keys, the debt of temporal 1 
punishment which may remain due upon account of 
our sins, after the sins themselves, as to the guilt and 
eternal punishment, have been already remitted by re- 
pentance and confession 2 "— "that the priest may 
offer prayers for the souls in purgatory, and he can 
moreover offer the sacrifice of the mass — that all he 
can do is, to apply to the mercy of God in behalf of 
the dead ; but that, like other men, he must remain 
uncertain as to the efficacy of his prayers — that he 

CLAIMS NO AUTHORITY OR JURISDICTION OVER THE 
DEAD V 

But what was the belief and practice of the Roman 
church before the time of the Reformation, and what 
is it now ? Do her spiritual powers claim no authority 
or jurisdiction over the dead ? In good faith, do not 
her promises and declarations of pardon extend to the 
other world? And does she not claim jurisdiction 
over the souls in purgatory, so as to release them from 
their torments altogether, (in which case the pardon 
is called a Plenary Indulgence,) or remit such a por- 
tion of its bitter pains, and for so long a period and 
on such conditions, as her spiritual officers on earth 
shall determine ? 

First let us see what was the doctrine and what the 
practice just before the Reformation in England. 

Leo the Tenth, who was Pope from 1513 to 1521, 

1 By temporal punishment we have generally understood punish- 
ment endured in this life ; but when we read Roman Catholic definitions 
and explanations of pardons and indulgences, we shall be misled if we 
confine the term to this life ; it extends to the bitter pains after death 
of souls in purgatory, though no mention be made of the next world. 

2 Chaloner, London ; Jones, 1843, p. 57- 

3 Sermon preached at Bradford, July 27, 1825, by Peter Augustus 
Baines, D.D., Bishop of Siga. London; Booker, 1826, p. 24: re- 
published with the authority of the Bishops of the Church of Rome 
in England and Scotland, and its committee of Lay members, as 
No. 2, by the Society called The Catholic Institute of Great Britain, 



14 Pardons and Indulgences 

states the doctrine, (at the same time denouncing 
excommunication against all who should deny it, ) m 
a letter of instruction to his legate at the court of 
Maximilian. Having referred to the report that had 
reached him, that " some divines, even professing to 
follow Roman doctrine, had by preaching on indul- 
gences which had been customarily granted by him- 
self and his predecessors, Popes of Rome, in times 
beyond memory, imprinted errors on the hearts of 
many;" and having charged his legate to reprove 
and condemn those men, Leo proceeds : — 

"And in order that hereafter no one may plead 
ignorance of the Roman doctrine about indulgences 
of this kind and their efficacy, or excuse himself by 
the pretext of such ignorance, or help himself by a 
feigned protest, but that they may be convicted and 
condemned as guilty of a notorious lie, we have 
thought it our duty to signify to you, by these pre- 
sents, that the Roman church, which, as their mother, 
other churches are bound to follow, has taught by 
tradition that the Roman Pontiff, successor of the 
key-bearer, Peter, and vicar of Jesus Christ upon 
earth, by the power of the keys, (the office of which is 
to open, by removing in the faithful of Christ its im- 
pediments, that is to say, the guilt and punishment 
due for actual sins, the guilt being removed by means 
of the sacrament of penance, and the temporal punish- 
ment due according to Divine justice for actual sins 
being removed by ecclesiastical indulgence,) may iot 
reasonable causes grant to the same faithful of Christ, 
who by the bond of charity are members of Christ, 
whether they be in this life or in purgatory, indul- 
gences out of the superabundance of the merits of 
Christ and of the saints ; and on the apostolic authority, 
by granting the indulgence as well for the living as 
for the dead, to dispense the treasure of the merits of 
Christ and the saints, he has been accustomed either to 
confer the indulgence itself by the way of absolution, 
or by the way of suffrage to transfer it ; and con- 



granted by the Pope. 



15 



sequently that all, as well the living as the dead, who 
shall truly have obtained indulgences of this kind, are 
freed from so much temporal punishment, due accord- 
ing to Divine justice to their actual sins, as is equiva- 
lent to the indulgence granted and obtained ; and that 
thus it must be held and taught by all under pain of 
the sentence of excommunication, from which (unless 
at the point of death) they cannot obtain the benefit 
of absolution, except from the Apostolic authority, we 
decree by the tenor of these same presents V 

This exposition of the doctrine and practice of in- 
dulgences by Leo X. seems to have been a sort of 
text-book, as we shall soon be reminded, down to this 
very day. 

Much discussion has been entertained by Roman 
Catholic writers as to the precise distinction here 
made by Leo between the conferring of an indulgence 
by absolution and transferring it by suffrage. Cardinal 
Bellarmin 5 , whose dissertation on indulgences presents 
most startling views to those who have not before 
been acquainted with the real doctrine and practice of 
Rome, maintains this to be the distinction : The Pope, 
he says, grants an indulgence by absolution directly to 
the individual, when he remits the punishment and guilt 
to the sinner in this life ; whereas, in the other case, 
he transfers from the Church's treasure of the merits 
of Christ and the saints so much as will satisfy the 
Divine justice, and procure, as an equivalent for those 
merits, either the total remission of the punishment, or 
such a proportion of it as the indulgence expressly 
grants. The Cardinal illustrates it by what he con- 
siders more familiar to his readers, but what would 
convey to our minds somewhat of the same idea of 
superstition and impious intrusion into the province 
of the Almighty. " Therefore," he says, " in the 
same manner as when any one gives alms, or fasts, or 
goes a pilgrimage to holy places for the sake of the dead, 

4 Le Plat, vol. ii. p. 21, &c. Brit. Mus. 491, i. 

5 Bellarmin, Paris, 1608, vol. iii. p. 1169. 



IQ Pardons and Indulgences 

lie does not absolve the dead from the state of punish- 
ment, but offers that satisfaction for the dead so that, 
God accepting it, frees the dead from the debt of the 
punishment which they would have suffered; so the 
Pontiff does not absolve the souls of the dead, but 
offers to God out of the treasure as much as is required 
to liberate them; and God, accepting the satisfaction 
of another person communicating it to the souls ot 
the dead, frees them from the state of punishment . 

Of the deplorable application, however, of this doc- 
trine in actual practice in our own country we have 
too abundant testimony; indeed were that evidence 
found in the books of our Reformers, we should have 
questioned whether they had not been mistaken, 
whether we were not reading their inferences rather 
than the undoubted facts themselves; whether, how- 
ever honestly they might have desired to give their 
testimony, they had not exaggerated the evil-nay, 
were not the awful subject of man's salvation ever 
before our eyes, the reality could scarcely, in many 
cases, do otherwise than excite ridicule. 

In a work in English, entitled "The Hours of 
the most blessed Virgin Mary, according to the legi- 
timate use of the Church of Salisbury V' published at 
Paris in 1526, just five years after the death of Leo the 
Tenth, and only twenty-three years before our Book 
of Common Prayer was first published, we find such 
instances of the practical working of the doctrine 
declared by that Pope as would probably be pro- 
nounced unworthy inventions of the enemies of Rome, 
were they found in professed transcripts from the 
originals, or reported on the evidence of eye-wit- 
nesses, however respectable. 

The volume abounds with forms of prayer tothe 
Virgin, many of them prefaced by notifications of 
indulgences, startling indeed to us but apparently 
familiar to our countrymen of that day, promised to 

c Paris. 1608, vol. Hi. p. 489. 

7 A copy may be examined in the BriUsh Museum. 



granted by the Pope. 17 

those who duly repeat the prayers. These indul- 
gences are granted by Popes and by Bishops, some 
of them dead centuries before that time. They 
guarantee remission of punishment for different spaces 
of time, varying from a few weeks to ninety thousand 
years : they undertake to warrant freedom from hell ; 
they promise remission of punishment for deadly sins 
and for venial sins to the same person and on the 
same condition ; they assure, according to the spiritual 
wants of the individual, both a commutation of the 
pains of eternal damnation for the pains of purga- 
tory, and a change of the sufferings of purgatory into 
a full and free pardon. 

The following specimens, a few selected from an 
over-abundant supply, will exemplify the several par- 
ticulars specified in the above summary: — 

1. " Laurence,Bishop of Assaven, hath granted forty 
days of pardon to all them that devoutly say this prayer 
in the worship of our blessed Lady, being penitent and 
truly confessed of all their sins. Oratio, Gaude 
Virgo, Mater Christi 8 ." 

This was Laurence Child, who was made Bishop of 
St. Asaph, 1382. 

2. " To all them that be in a state of grace, that 
daily say devoutly this prayer before our blessed Lady 
of Pity, she will show them her blessed visage, and 
warn them the day and hour of death ; and in their 
last end the angels of God shall yield their souls to 
heaven ; and he 9 shall obtain five hundred years and 
so many Lents of pardon, granted by five holy Fathers, 
Popes of Rome \" 

3. "Our holy Father, Sixtus IV. 2 , Pope, hath 
granted to all them that devoutly say this prayer 
before the image of our Lady, the sum of X1M. 

s Folio 35. . . . . c 

9 "They." The language no less than the printing is in many ot 

these passages inaccurate, but it is thought better to quote eacn 

passage as it appears. 

1 Folio 38. 

2 Sixtus IV. had been then dead somewhat more than forty years. 



18 



Pardons and Indidgences, 



(eleven thousand) years of pardon,, Ave, sanctissima 
Maria, Mater Dei, Regina Coeli 3 ." 

4. "To all them that before this image of Pity 
devoutly say five Pat. Nos. and five Aves and a 
Credo, piteously beholding these arms of Christ's 
passion, are granted XXXIIM. VII. hundred and 
LV. (thirty-two thousand seven hundred and fifty- 
five) years of pardon; and Sixtus IV., Pope of Rome, 
hath made the fourth and fifth prayer, and hath 
doubled his aforesaid pardon V 

5. "Our holy Father, the Pope John XXII., hath 
granted to all 'them that devoutly say this prayer, 
after the elevation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 3000 
days of pardon for deadly sins 5 ." 

6. " Our holy Father, Pope Innocent III., hath 
granted to all them that say these three^ prayers 
following devoutly, remission of all their sins, con- 
fessed and contrite 6 ." 

7. " These three prayers be written in the chapel of 
the Holy Cross, in Rome, otherwise called Sacellum 
Sanctse Crucis Septem Romanorum ; who that de- 
voutly say them shall obtain XCM. (ninety thousand) 
years of pardon for deadly sins 7 , granted of our holy 
Father, John XXII., Pope of Rome 8 ." 

8. " Who that devoutly beholdeth these arms of our 
Lord Jesus Christ shall obtain six thousand years of 
pardon of our holy Father Saint Peter, the first 
Pope of Rome, and of XXX. (thirty) other Popes of 
the Church of Rome, successors after him ; and our holy 
Father, Pope John XXII., hath granted to all them, 
very contrite and truly confessed, that say these devout 
prayers following in the commemoration of the bitter 
passion of our "Lord Jesus Christ, three thousand 
years of pardon for deadly sins, and other three 
thousand for venial sins 9 ." 

We will only add one more instance. The following 



3 Folio 42. 4 Folio 54. 5 Folio 58. 

6 Folio 63. 8 Folio 66. 9 Folio 68. 



granted by the Pope. 19 

announcement accompanies a prayer of St. Bernard, 
" Who that devoutly, with a contrite heart, say this 
orison, if he be that day in a state of eternal damna- 
tion, then this eternal pain shall be changed him in 
temporal pain of purgatory ; then if he hath deserved 
the pain of purgatory, it shall be forgotten and forgiven 
through the infinite mercy of God." # 

On this it may be observed, that Cardinal Bellar- 
min does not venture to express any doubt of his own 
as to the genuineness of those indulgences which ex- 
tend over many thousands of years ; and he tells us, 
moreover, that those who entertained such a doubt, on 
the ground that the Pope never granted indulgences 
to souls in purgatory for a longer period than would 
have been sufficient to expiate their guilt by penance, 
were utterly mistaken, for that agreeably to the canons 
some souls would not suffer enough punishment in 
purgatory in the course even of thousands of years; 
and he quotes the opinion that some must, if left to 
themselves, remain there in torments till the day of 
judgment. Still, according to Bellarmin and other 
modern writers, the Church of Rome professes to ex- 
ercise no jurisdiction over souls condemned to eternal 
fire. They tell us, that however grievously a man 
may have sinned, and however bitterly he may be 
punished in the next world for his crimes, yet the 
pains of purgatory are the only sufferings which the 
indulgences of that Church are believed to shorten 
or mitigate. This theory is, indeed, inconsistent with 
the promise in "The Hours of the Virgin," that 
a man's pain of eternal damnation should be changed 
for him into temporal pain of purgatory. But when 
human corruptions are allowed to carry men away so 
far and so recklessly from Gospel truth, contradictions 
and inconsistencies afford little matter of surprise. 

It is melancholy to reflect that such were the husks, 
or rather the deadly poisons, once supplied to our 
countrymen instead of the bread of life. But is it fair 
to fasten upon our Roman Catholic brethren now such 



20 



Pardons and Indulgences 



impious enormities? We desire to do no such thing-; 
yet we do desire that our countrymen of the present 
day should become better acquainted than they have 
been with the nature of the evils from which the 
Reformation rescued us. But, as we have intimated 
above, though such gross blasphemies do not shock 
our eyes in England now, yet in theory and in practice 
the doctrine of indulgences, extending not only to this 
life but to the next, is still the doctrine of the Church 
of Rome, and is still operative, acted upon by the 
hierarchy and received by the laity ; and of this we 
have abundant proof. 

In the first place, the doctrine is maintained and 
the practice sanctioned by the decrees of the Council 
of Trent, and enforced by a condemnation and curse 
on all who should oppugn it. 

In the second place, the doctrine is affirmed in the 
creed of Pope Pius IV., as one article of the Catholic 
faith, without which no one can be saved. To their entire 
belief in this creed all officers in the Church of Rome 
are bound by an oath on the Gospels; and their assent 
to it, without restriction or qualification, all proselytes on 
their admission into that Church are bound to testify. 

In the third place, the Popes at the present day 
grant indulgences on certain stipulated conditions, 
extending expressly to purgatory. 

And, lastly, the clergy and laity of the Roman 
church accept those indulgences, extending to the 
next world, as boons to be prized most highly for 
their eminent spiritual efficacy, and uuge their fellow 
members to avail themselves of such means of salvation. 

These four points it will be now incumbent on us 
to establish. 

First, as to the Council of Trent. To what is 
declared in this council, the creed of Pope Pius IV. 
compels every Roman Catholic to assent ; and not only 
himself to assent, and undoubtingly to receive and 
confess it, but at the same time in like manner to 
condemn, reject, and curse with anathemas, all that is 



granted by the Pope. 



21 



contrary thereto. In the twenty-fifth session of this 
council, Dec. 4, 1563, the decree runsin these words: 

« Since the power of conferring indulgences was 

granted by Christ to the Church, and she has used a 
power of this kind, divinely delivered to herself, even 
in the most ancient times, this most holy synod teaches 
and instructs, that the use of indulgences, in the 
greatest degree salutary to Christian people, ^ and 
approved by the authority of sacred councils, is to 
be retained ; and condemns those with a curse, who 
either assert that they are useless, or deny that the 
power of granting them is in the Church." 

The remainder of the decree (as we have before 
intimated) merely forbids "depraved gains" to be 
obtained for granting these indulgences, and leaves 
the rest of the abuses to be inquired into by the 
bishops, and reported to Rome. Not one single word 
is there as to the limiting an indulgence to the remis- 
sion of temporal penances for sin in this world 3> or as 
to modifying the indulgence, that is, the remission of 
punishment in the world beyond the grave, ^ within 
limits less awfully startling than those which the 
" Hours of the Virgin, according to the use of Salis- 
bury," announced. Nor would the decrees of Trent 
have been consistent with the present practice, had 
they not sanctioned the doctrine, that the Church 
of Rome still possesses power, put into operation 
by some means or other of her own approval, to 
remit the pains of purgatory. The reality may not 
now be put before us in such broad characters, as it 
assumed in the early years of the sixteenth century ; 
but the reality is in truth one and the self-same — less 
appalling and less palpably blasphemous, hut not 
one whit less real, and much more deceitful and 
seducing. 

Secondly, — The creed of Pope Pius, called by 
Roman Catholics "their profession of faith," thus 
expresses the two parts of the doctrine, of which 
whoever denies the one or the other, is condemned 



22 



Pardons and Indulgences 



with an anathema by the Council of Trent. "I 
affirm that the power of indulgences was by Christ 
left in the Church, and that the use of them is salu- 
tary to Christian people V 

Of the third and fourth points we have proof to the 
overflow. Roman Catholic books abound with evidence, 
that Pope Leo's doctrine is still maintained in theory, 
and acted upon practically, in all its parts — that the 
Pope grants indulgences, that is, remits the guilt and 
the temporal punishment due from Divine justice to 
actual sins — that some of these are plenary indul- 
gences, that is, entire and complete remission of guilt 
and punishment ; others are partial, that is, a remis- 
sion of so much only of the guilt and punishment as 
is specified in each separate indulgence ; that some of 
these indulgences relate to this life, others extend to • 
the life beyond the grave. To establish these points 
we need not refer to distant times, or unwilling wit- 
nesses; our own days furnish too ample testimony. 

Take, for example, the bull of Pope Leo XII. 
granting the last "grand jubilee/' only one-and- 
twenty years ago, " celebrated at Rome in the course 
of the" holy year 1825, and extended to the Universal 
Church in 1826." The entire doctrine of indulgences 
may be drawn from the language of this single docu- 
ment : — 

"During this year, which we truly call the accept- 
able time, and the time of salvation," said this mortal 
man, " we are resolved, in virtue of the authority 
given to us by Heaven, fully to unlock that sacred 
treasure composed of the merits, sufferings, and vir- 
tues of Christ our Lord, and of his Virgin Mother, 
and of all the saints, which the author of human 

SALVATION HAS ENTRUSTED TO OUR DISPENSATION. 

" Let the earth, therefore, hear the words of our 
mouth, and let the whole world joyfully hearken to 
the voice of the priestly trumpet, sounding forth to 
God's people the sacred jubilee. We proclaim that 
1 Chaloner, p. 58. 



granted by the Pope. 23 



the year of atonement and pardon, of redemption and 
grace, of remission and indulgence, is arrived. 

" We, with the assent of our venerable brethren, 
the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, do, by the 
authority of Almighty God, and of the blessed apostles 
Peter and Paul, and by our own, for the glory of God 
Himself, the exaltation of the Catholic Church, and 
the sanctification of all Christian people, ordain and 
publish the universal and most solemn jubilee, to com- 
mence in this holy city from the first Vespers of the 
Nativity, and to continue during the whole year 1825 : 
during which year of jubilee we mercifully give 
and grant in the Lord a plenary indulgence, re- 
mission, and pardon of all their sins to all the faithful 
of Christ of both sexes, truly penitent and confessing 
their sins, and receiving the Holy Communion, who 
shall devoutly visit the churches of blessed Peter and 
Paul, as also of St. John Lateran, and St. Mary 
Major, of this city, for thirty successive days." 

Pope Leo subsequently laments, that, " some per- 
sons covering themselves with sheep's clothing, under 
the usual pretence of a more refined piety, were sow- 
ing among the people erroneous comments on this 
subject," and he urges all patriarchs and bishops to 
explain clearly "the power of indulgences; what is 
their efficacy, not only in the remission of the canoni- 
cal penance, but also of the temporal punishment due 
to the divine justice for past sins; and what succour is 
afforded out of this heavenly treasure, from 
the merits of Christ and his saints, to such as have 

DEPARTED REAL PENITENTS IN GOD'S LOVE, yet be- 
fore they had duly satisfied, by fruits worthy of pe- 
nance, for sin of commission and omission, and are 

NOW PURIFYING IN THE FIRE OF PU R G A.T O R Y," that 

an entrance maybe opened for them into their eternal 
country where nothing defiled is admitted 2 ." 

Four years after that jubilee, the Roman breviary, 
in four volumes, was printed at Norwich with the sanc- 



2 Laity's Directory for 1825. — Keating and Brown. 



24 



Pardons and Indulgences 



tion of the pope, and by his permission adapted ex- 
pressly for England; and what view of the Roman 
doctrine of indulgences do we find there? At the 
very opening of the breviary, between the calendar 
and the Psalms, we read this announcement, — "To 
those who devoutly recite the following prayer after 
performing service, Pope Leo X. hath forgiven the 
defects and faults in performing it which have been 
contracted by human frailty." That pope died more 
than three centuries ago; and yet, in 1830, his pro- 
mise of indulgence and pardon is recognized and put 
forward in the public offices and authorized rituals of 
the Church of Rome. To us there is something 
awfully revolting, in the thought of a mortal man 
prescribing for future ages, the conditions on which 
the frailties of human nature shall be pardoned ; and 
of priests in the temple, even now, being taught to 
rely on such a promise of pardon, of whatever charac- 
ter" it be, or whatever kind of punishment it may be 
supposed to remit. To believe that a priest can be 
put into a better condition by such a promise, does 
seem to be the very height of superstition. 

But a work published at Derby only three years 
ago, entitled, "Manual of Devotion, for the use of the 
brethren and sisters of the confraternity of the Living 
Rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary, by Ambrose 
Lisle Phillips, Esq., of Grace Dieu Manor 3 ," renders 
all other evidence superfluous ; the testimony borne 
by it is in every point complete. In the first place, 
page 22, this Roman Catholic writer copies a letter 
by the present pope, Gregory XVI., dated Rome, 
Feb. 2, 1832, of which the following are parts. The 
letter the pope addresses to " John F. Betemps, Canon 
of Lyons, and the Vicar of St. Roc, Paris. 

" In the midst of that profound sorrow wherewith 
these evil days have overwhelmed our soul, we have 
found one subject of consolation, in that which we 
have heard touching a pious exercise, instituted to 
promote the devotion to the blessed Virgin Mary, 
s Derby, 1843. 



granted hy the Pope. 



25 



under the title of the Living Rosary, Most heartily 
do we concur with our authority, in order to help you 
in extending this pious institution; wherefore we 
open to you the heavenly treasures of holy indul- 
gences, as you will find in the Apostolic Letter which 
we have directed to you, appended unto this. Con- 
tinue, then, dear children, encouraged by this spiritual 
assistance, which we have drawn forth for you from 
the inexhaustible treasury of God. 

66 To this letter is appended an apostolic brief, 
wherein the holy father is pleased to grant the follow- 
ing indulgences to all the faithful in Christ of both 
sexes, who shall be inscribed in the guild, or con- 
fraternity of the Living Rosary. 

" 1. Plenary indulgence, receiving the Holy Com- 
munion after a devout confession on the first festival 
day after their admission into the guild. 

"2. All the indulgences hitherto annexed to the re- 
cital of the Rosary. 

" 3. Indulgences of a hundred days as often as the 
members shall recite their appointed decade of the 
Rosary on working days. 

"4. Indulgences of seven years and seven quadra- 
gense, [Lents,] as often as they shall recite their 
aforesaid decades on Sundays and holydays, as well 
those of obligation, as on those which are no longer 
of obligation, and every day during the octaves of 
Christmas, Easter, Whit-Sunday, Corpus Christi, the 
Assumption, the Nativity, and the Conception of the 
Blessed Virgin. 

"5. Plenary indulgence on Christmas-day [&c], as 
well as on all the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
as noticed in the last calendars of the holy Roman 
Church, and moreover on the third Sunday of every 
month." 

On this letter and brief of the Pope, the writer 
makes a long comment, exhorting all to secure to 
their own souls the benefit of these indulgences. 
Among other remarks we read : — 

[652] b 



26 Pardons and Indulgences 

" These plenary indulgences are applicable to the 
holy souls in purgatory." . . . « Indulgences are 
the remission of the temporal punishments which re- 
main due to sin, even after God has forgiven us in the 
Sacrament of penance the eternal punishment due to 
i t . In this Sacrament the grace is not so 

abundant as in that of Baptism: it remits indeed the 
eternal punishments of hell, if we receive it in due 
dispositions; but it leaves uncancelled tne debt ot 
temporal punishment which God still requires for 
the repenting sinner, after his justification, to undergo. 
If this debt be not fully discharged in this life, the Church 
teaches that we must suffer it in the next in the place of 
departed spirits. But she also teaches, that the payment 
of 'this debt is not so easy a matter in the next life as 
in this. . • Venial sins will add fuel to the flames, 
that have'been already kindled by the debt due to our 
mortal sins forgiven as to their eternal punishment. 
How true then are the words of the holy Church, that 
indulgences are most profitable unto Christian souls. 
And why ? because thev apply to our souls the super- 
abundant merits of Jesus Christ and of the saints, 
(who are members of his mystical body, with whom 
also we have communion,) and so enable us more 
easily to cancel the debt of temporal punishment, 
which God in his infinite wisdom has still left upon us, 
even after He has reinstated us in his grace, and re- 
mitted the eternal punishment due to our sins by the 
Sacramental absolution of the Church. If, then, we 
desire to make our calling and election sure, let us 
diligently have recourse to this second branch ot the 
power of the keys, which Christ our Lord hath left to 
his Church. I mean, let us never lose an opportunity 
of gaining holy indulgences." 

Such is the present state of indulgences : the Fope 
granting them both plenary, and in part ; and the 
Romanists in England receiving them as boons; ac- 
knowledging their efficacy both in this world, and in 
the life of the world to come. 



granted hy the Pope. 



27 



To us who are accustomed to appeal to the Holy 
Scriptures as the rule of faith,- there is something 
most awfully impious in this doctrine and practice, 
-even under its least offensive form. In the thought that 
a mortal man should assume at his pleasure and on his 
own conditions, the right, the power on earth, of miti- 
gating the punishment appointed by the eternal Judge 
to be endured in the next world; in one case suspend- 
ing it for days or years, or myriads of years- — in ano- 
ther remitting it altogether, and freeing the souls of the 
departed from all the pangs and sufferings, which but 
for that mortal man's indulgence they must for ages have 
undergone, there is something so abhorrent from our 
very first principles of reason, and our notions of God 
and of man, and so utterly at variance with the 
whole tenour of revelation, that our difficulty is not to 
point out its evils, but to believe that such a doctrine 
is indeed and in reality practically in existence, be- 
lieved, and acted upon. 

If it be said that the Pope does not assume 
this right and power, but that it was assigned to 
him by the providence of God, revealed in his 
written word, and testified by the primitive Church, 
we declare ourselves unable to find one single 
trace or shadow of it either in the Holy Scrip- 
tures, or in the records of the primitive ages. Pope 
Leo X., indeed, boldly affirms that indulgences had 
been customarily granted by his predecessors, Popes 
of Rome as St. Peter's successors, time out of mind : 
but for any grounds on which to rest that assertion, we 
search the records of the Christian Church in vain. 
Indeed, the Romanist writers do not allege any evi- 
dence of the doctrine and practice of indulgences from 
early ages ; and many of them freely confess that they 
were comparatively modern in their origin. There is, 
we conceive, no point in pagan or sacred history 
more clearly established than this, that for the doctrine 
and practice of indulgences there is no ground what- 
ever in the Gospel or the primitive Church. 



28 Pardons and Indulgences 



Many proofs of this may be adduced; but we need 
no more than the confession of John Fisher, Bishop 
of Rochester. This Romanist Bishop, when he 
wrote his first arguments against Luther, seems to 
have thought it impossible for any true Catholic at 
that time (whatever might have been the creed of 
Christendom in former ages) to doubt the existence 
of purgatory. And he thus argues, " Those who be- 
lieve in purgatory must agree to indulgences. In 
former ages they had no purgatory; therefore, they 
did not seek indulgences; we have purgatory, there- 
fore we must have indulgences.' , But let ^ his own 
words convey his sentiments :— " Many, perhaps, are 
induced not to place so much confidence in these in- 
dulgences, because their use in the Church seems to 
have been somewhat recent, and to be found exceed- 
ingly late among Christians. I answer, that it is not 
a settled point by whom they began to be delivered 
[or from what time they began to be delivered down]. 
There was, however, some use of them, as they say, 
among the most ancient Romans, as we are given to 
understand even from the very frequent stations 4 in the 
city. But they even say that Gregory the First 
granted some in his time. Nor is it otherwise than 
clear to every one, that by the talents of men in after 
times many points, as well out of the Gospel as from the 
other Scriptures, are now drawn out more clearly and 
understood more perspicuously than they were formerly. 
Either, forsooth, because the ice was not yet broken 
through by the ancients, and their age did not suffice 
for weighing to a nicety the whole sea of Scriptures: 
or because even in the Very ample field of the Scrip- 
tures, after the reapers, although most careful, it will 
be allowed to glean some ears left hitherto untouched. 
For there are still in the Gospels very many places 
yet very obscure, which I doubt not will be made 

^ By "stations" was meant, places where the processions made a 
halt, and prayers were offered, confessions heard, &c 



granted by the Pope. 



29 



more clear to posterity. Why should we despair of 
this, whereas for this very reason has the Gospel been 
delivered down, that it might be thoroughly and ex- 
actly understood by us ? Since then the love of Christ 
to his Church continues not less strong than it was 
formerly, of whose power too there is no diminution ; 
and since the Holy Spirit is the perpetual guardian 
and keeper of the same Church, wdiose gifts flow as 
uninterruptedly and copiously as they did from the 
beginning, who can doubt but that, wdiatever points re- 
main in the Gospel unknown, the clear intellects of those 
who are to come will illustrate ? However, as we were 
saying, there are many points on which no question was 
raised in the primitive Church, which, nevertheless, by 
the diligence of subsequent men, when a doubt arose, 
have been made clear. No orthodox person, at all events 
(to return to our point), now doubts whether there 
be a purgatory, of which, at that time, among those 
ancients no mention was made at all, or as rarely as 
possible. Nay, by the Greeks even to this very day, 
it is not believed that there is a purgatory. Let who 
will read the commentaries of the ancient Greeks, and 
he will meet with no word, as I think, or as rarely as 
possible, of purgatory. But not even did all at once 
the Latins, but by little and little, receive the truth of 
this matter. Nor was the belief either^ of purgatory, 
or of indulgence, so necessary in the primitive Church 
as it is now. For at that time charity was so ardent, 
that individuals were most ready to die for Christ. 
Crimes were rare, and those which occurred were visited 
with great and severe vengeance by the canons. But 
now a good part of the people would rather strip them- 
selves of Christianity than submit to the rigour of the 
canons, so that, not without a very great dispensation of 
the Holy Spirit, has it come to pass, that after the revo- 
lutions of so many years, belief in purgatory and the 
use of indulgences have generally been received by 
the orthodox. As long as there was no care about 
purgatory, no one sought indulgences ; for from 



30 Pardons and Indulgences 

that depends all the estimation of an indulgence. 
If you take away purgatory, for what will there be 
any use of indulgences ? for we should not need them 
at all, if there were no purgatory. Seeing then that 
purgatory was for a considerable time unknown, and 
then step by step, partly from revelations, partly from 
the Scriptures, was believed, and so at length generally 
the belief of it was most widely received by the or- 
thodox Church, we can most easily understand some 
reason for indulgences. Since then purgatory was at 
so late a period received by the universal Church, who 
can now wonder about indulgences, that in the begin- 
ning of the nascent Church there was no use of them ! 
Indulgences, therefore, began after there had been for 
some considerable time trepidation about the torments 
of puro-atory. For, at that time, it is credible that 
the holy fathers more attentively studied by what means 
they could best consult for the safety of their flocks 
against those torments, especially for those whose age 
would not allow of their completing the penance ap- 
pointed by the canons." The writer then proceeds to 
say, that those fathers, seeing that the Pope, as Peter s 
successor, has so much power, conceived that he might 
fairly be believed to have the power of releasing; from 
the pains of purgatory; hence the origin of indul- 
gences ! He finishes the section in these words— 
« Nor would I deny that the abuse of them may take 
place on both sides. For both the person who grants 
them, may give them with some sinister view ; and at 
the same time he who receives them, may make them 
a handle for living more carelessly." 

After such a declaration, by one of the most learned 
champions of the Romish Church, we need not exa- 
mine those passages of primitive writers which are now 
strangely perverted and pressed, to give countenance 
to some part or other of these innovations. The very 
earliest time to which Bishop Fisher would refer is the 
age of Gregory the First, who was not Pope till the very 
end of the sixth century ; and even that he does not 



granted by the Pope. 31 

venture to give as his own opinion, or to confirm by 
any evidence— all he can write is, " As they say." 

And if from the ancient Church we turn to the 
Holy Scriptures, we cannot find one single passage 
to give the slightest shadow or colour of authority to 
the practice or the belief of indulgences. The Pope 
claims the right on his being the successor of St. 
Peter, and on the authority of the keys as given to 
that Apostle by our Lord. But whatever that autho- 
rity involved, it had certainly nothing in common with 
indulgences ; and whatever it was, it was given equally 
to all the Apostles. The words by which He explains 
the figurative expression of delivering the keys to Peter 
He repeats to all the Apostles: — "Thou art Peter 
and upon this rock I will build my Church ; and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will 
give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : 
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be 
bound in heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt loose on 
earth shall be loosed in heaven 5 . 5 ' "Verily I say 
unto vou, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be 
bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on 
earth shall be loosed in heaven 6 ." " Then were the 
disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said 
Jesus unto them again, Peace be unto you. As my 
rather hath sent me, even so send I you. And when 
he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto 
them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whosesoever sins 
ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose- 
soever sins ye retain, they are retained 7 ." 

And when we read written as with a sunbeam,— 
" The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from 
all sin " if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just 
to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all un- 
righteousness," we turn from the doctrine and practice 
of indulgences as an unscriptural error, robbing the 
atoning sacrifice of Christ's death of its infinite ful- 
ness, and denying its power of saving to the utter- 

5 Matt. xvi. 18,19. 6 Matt, xviii. 18. 7 John xx. 20. 



32 Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

most those who come to the Father through Him. The \ 
idea of a treasure of merits, consisting of the mingled 
merits of Christ and his saints, seems to us nothing short 
of impiety. To maintain that a mortal man has the 
disposal of that treasure to make amends and satisfac- 
tion to God's eternal justice for the unexpiated guilt of 
departed souls, and liquidate that portion of their debt 
of punishment which they have not yet paid by suffer- 
ings, we cannot but regard as a presumption most offen- 
sive to the Almighty, and most abhorrent to our first 
principles of religion. 

We throw ourselves on the mere mercy of God 
in Christ Jesus, assured that if we sincerely repent, 
and unfeignedly believe His Holy Gospel, He 
will absolve us from all our sins, and receive us to | 
Himself as souls ransomed from sin, and death, 
and hell, by His blood, and cleansed from all our 
corruptions *by the Holy Spirit. We endeavour, 
in reliance upon his grace, to work out our own 
salvation ; considering the purity of God and our own 
frailty, we engage in that work with fear and trem- 
bling; but knowing that He will work in us by a 
power not our own, and will give us, in answer to 
earnest prayer, the strength, and guidance, and protec- 
tion of His' Holy Spirit, we go on our way rejoicing, 
in sure and certain hope of victory and of heaven. 
We feel no trepidation as to the torments of purga- 
tory, but are sure that they are the presumptuous 
fabrication of men ; and regarding the interval between 
our death and the resurrection, even were it a myriad 
of ages, in comparison with eternity, to be like the 
twinkling of an eye, with humble confidence we trust 
that, when the time of our departure is come, we shall 
fall asleep in Jesus, to be raised in God's good time to 
possess cur full consummation and bliss, both in 
body and soul, in his everlasting glory. 



Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



INVOCATION OF SAINTS AND 
ANGELS. 



SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

SOLD AT THE DEPOSITOllY, 
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE; 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 




No. III. 



ON THE 




LONDON: 



Printed for the 



[653] 



1848. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



k 

The present Tracts are the first of a series intended to be i 
issued, on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the ; 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published : — ( 

I. On the Supremacy of the Pope. 
II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

IV. On the Invocation of Saints akd Angels. — Evi-: 

DENCE OF THE Old TESTAMENT AGAINST IT. 

V. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi-j f 

DENCE OF THE New TESTAMENT AGAINST IT. 

VI. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. Evi-! 

DENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AGAINST IT. 

VII. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evi-. 

DENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AGAINST IT 

[continued]. 



j 
j 

j 

WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



Invocation of Saints. 

One of the characteristic doctrines of Romanism, in 
contradistinction to the faith and practice of the 
Church of England, is that tenet by which every 
jmember of the Church of Rome is bound to hold the 
jlnvocation of Saints. We are aware that different 
members, perhaps different sections, of that Church 
ivary much in their practical acceptation of that doc- 
trine ; but their fundamental Articles, and the authori- 
tative interpretation of those Articles, leave them no 
option as to its admission. In the twenty-fifth session 
of the Council of Trent, the article entitled, " On the 
Invocation, Veneration, and Relics of Saints and of 
'sacred Images," is expressed in these words: — 

" The holy council commands all bishops and others 
bearing the office and care of instruction, that accord- 
ing to the usage of the Catholic and Apostolic Church* 
received from the primitive times of the Christian 
religion, and the consent of holy fathers, and decrees 
of sacred councils, they, in the first place, should in- 
struct the faithful concerning the intercession and 
invocation of saints, the honour of relics, and the law- 
ful use of images; teaching them that the saints reign- 
ing together with Christ, offer their own prayers for 
men to God; that it is good and profitable suppliantly 
to invoke them, and to fly to their prayers, help, and 
assistance, for obtaining benefits from God by his 
Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our only Redeemer 
and Saviour. Those who deny that the saints enjoy- 
ing everlasting happiness in heaven are to be invoked, 
or who assert either that they do not pray for us, 
! or that the invocation of them to pray for us even as 
I individuals is idolatry, or is repugnant to the word of 

A '2 

1 



1 



4 Invocation of Saints. 

God, and is opposed to the honour of the one Medial 
tor of God and man, Jesus Christ, or that it is folly by 
voice or mentally to supplicate those who reign m 
heaven, hold impious sentiments. 

» Those who affirm that ... the shrines ot the 
saints are in vain frequented for the purpose of , 
obtaining their succour, are altogether to be con- 
demned, as the Church has long ago condemned 
them, and now also condemns them." 

There are several points of view in which the ex- 
pressions of this decree are remarkable ; among others, - 
their elastic character forces itself upon our notice ; 
for whilst they may be so widely expanded as to justtty ■ 
the practice "of praying for blessings temporal and 
spiritual directly from the saints themselves, they may 
be so contracted as not palpably to contradict those 
who assert that the Church of Rome never offers to a 
saint any other petition than merely and simply a 
request, that the saint would, by his or her prayers, 
intercede with God for the worshippers. And con- 
formably with this latitude we find the most astonish- 
ing discrepancies between the representations of their 
faith and conduct made by different Roman Catholic 
writers; and whilst this discrepancy reminds us es- 
pecially of the rule which we have prescribed to our- 
selves throughout these papers, of not seeking to 
charge individual members of the Roman Church 
with doctrines and practices which they disavow, it 
enforces on us with increased obligation the necessity 
of cautioning the members of our own communion 
aoainst those errors in belief and religious worship, 
which however softened down by metaphysical dis- 
tinctions, are inseparably connected with such cor- 
ruptions as we are led in the present paper to lay 
open. But let us first see what views of the invo- 
cation of saints are put before us by those Romanist 
writers who wish to make their doctrines as little 
repulsive as may be to members of our communion, 
and then how the doctrine and practice show them- 
selves elsewhere. 



Invocation of Saints. 5 

In the sermon preached at the consecration of the 
1 Roman Catholic chapel at Bradford, July 27, 1825, by 
P. A. Baines, D.D., bishop of Siga, the doctrine and 
practice are thus stated: "But do we not worship 
land pray to the saints? We worship no creature 
whatever, and therefore not the saints. But at least 
I we pray to them. Yes, my Christian brethren, just 
' as St. Paul prayed to his own converts, or I pray to 
you. I say to you, and with all sincerity I say it, 
Pray for me, my brethren ; obtain for me from God 
those blessings which I may myself be unable or 
,! unworthy to obtain. I say the same to the blessed 
Ij mother of Jesus Christ, to St. Peter, St. Paul, St. 
\ Augustine, St. Jerome, or any other of those holy 
J persons whose acknowledged sanctity has procured for 
them, through the grace and merits of Christ, the 
friendship of God and the happiness of heaven. 
Surely there is nothing wrong or unreasonable in this. 
The earthly trials of those holy persons are past, the 
veil of mortality is removed from their eyes, they 
; behold God face to face, and enjoy without reserve 
\ his friendship and his love. May I not reasonably 
hope that their prayers will be more efficacious than 
my own, or those of my friends? Under this per- 
suasion I say to them as I just now said to you, 
« Holy Mary, holy Peter, holy Paul, pray for us!" 
The end of this section Bishop Baines closes with 
this awful imprecation on his own soul, "Anathema 
to myself, if the doctrine I have here explained to 
you is not the true and universally received doctrine 
of the Catholic Church !" 

To this exposition we must again revert. At 
present we only say, that however wide the difference, 
i however groundless the analogy between one of us 
mortals asking a fellow mortal on earth to pray for us 
; on the one hand, and on the other our suppliantly 
invoking the spirits in the unseen world to pray for 
j us— between our requesting, by word of mouth or by 
' letter, a living friend to join his prayers with our own 
; at the throne of grace, and, on the other hand, in the 



6 Invocation of Saints. 

attitude of prayer, on our knees, with uplifted hands, in 
private or in the house of prayer in the very midst of 
the worship of Almighty God, (all marking it as a reli- ] 
gious act of prayer,) our imploring an unseen spirit to 
aid us; however great a difficulty we may find in re- ' 
conciling this declaration of Bishop Baines and his 
knowledge with the real state of facts both of doctrine 
and practice as we find them ; we do not for a moment 
suspect him of willingly misleading his audience, 
which consisted of members of his own Church, and of 
the Church of England, and of Dissenters. His sermon 
was preached in 1825; in 1843 we have a very differ- ' 
ent view of the doctrine forced upon us in a letter r 
dated " St. Mary's College, Oscott, Octave of Corpus 
Christ! 1 ." It is written " to a friend at Oxford by a 
late member of the University," who represents him- 
self as a convert from the Church of England to the 
Church of Rome. This writer, on the subject of the 
Invocation of Saints, uses these expressions: "To 
prevent all quibbling, I shall explain all the points in ' 
the above argument which are liable to be misunder- 
stood or cavilled at. By 6 Invocation of Saints/ I do 
not mean the mere 6 Ora pro nobis,' (the mere 6 Pray 
for us,') but the direct 2 asking from the saints things 
which God alone can bestow." 

Whether this view or the representation of Dr. 
Baines be the more approved now in England it is 
needless for us to inquire, who believe both of them 
to be contrary to the faith and practice of the Primi- 
tive Church, and inconsistent with the Scriptural 
principle of one God, the only object of prayer, and 
one Mediator between that God and our fallen race. 
But we must now inquire what were the doctrines 
and practices from which the Reformation rescued 
our country in this respect, and what are the con- 

1 The title-page is "The Character of the Rev. W. Palmer, M.A., 
of Worcester College, as a Controversialist, particularly with reference 
to his charge against the Right Rev. Dr. Wiseman, of quoting as 
genuine works of the fathers spurious and heretical productions, &c. 
London : Dolman, New Bond Street, 1843." 

2 These italics are in the original. 



Invocation of Saints, 



7 



elusions to be drawn by honest minds from the autho- 
I rized formularies now in use in the Church of Rome, 
I and what are practically the prevalent devotional 
exercises of its members. We reserve the worship of 
the blessed Virgin Mary for a separate consideration. 
I We cannot, however, help observing on the unsatis- 
, factory language in which, on this subject, no less 
j than on Indulgences, Dr. Baines conveys to a mixed 
congregation, unacquainted with Roman doctrines, 
this article of their faith, " I say the same < Pray for 
me ' to the blessed mother of Jesus Christ, to St. 
! Peter, St. Paul, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, or any 
|| other of those holy persons whose acknowledged 
! sanctity has procured for them, through the grace 
i and merits of Christ, the friendship of God and the 
happiness of heaven By whom does he mean that 
! their sanctity is acknowledged ? If God be meant as 
acknowledging it, how can we be certified of the 
judgment of God as to the sanctity of any departed 
mortal? If man be meant, how can man know the 
! heart of a fellow mortal ? And, in any ^ case, how 
\ can we know whether (on the Romanist principles, so 
far as Bishop Baines explains them) the soul departed 
is in a condition to be prayed for, or to he prayed 
to? If the soul is in purgatory, according to the 
Roman theory, it requires the prayers of the faithful 
on earth for its release from suffering ; if it is already 
in heaven, not only may it pray for souls on ^ earth, 
but those souls may suppliantly implore its assistance 
and good offices. This alternative can be decided by 
no mortal except through immediate revelation ; but 
here the Church of Rome has attempted to meet this 
difficulty by investing the Pope with the power of 
canonizing 'such departed souls as he adjudges to be 
saints in heaven ; and in this act he is held to be in- 
fallible. Cardinal Bellarmine insists upon this as an 
indisputable dogma ; though, when he proceeds to 
enumerate his arguments, the first would seem not to 
! partake of a seriousness corresponding with the cha- 
| racter of the subject. " In the first place, was the 

a 4 



8 Invocation of Saints. 

Pope ever proved to be mistaken in this act?" In 
Dr. Baines's exposition of the doctrine, then, there is 
much to be understood beyond what is expressed. By 
"acknowledged sanctity" is meant " sanctity acknow- 
ledged by the Pope and the College ;" and to the 
words "has procured for them the friendship of God 
and the happiness of heaven," must be added, "in the 
judgment of the Roman pontiff." Thus the soul of a 
departed Christian might be prayed for, and masses 
said in his behalf to release him from purgatory through 
this year, and if the act of canonization were passed by 
the Pope at the end of the year, from that day and hour 
he would become, not the subject, but the object of ! 
prayer ; he would not be prayed for, but prayed to. 
Thus in the record of the canonization of Alphonsus 
Liguori, we are told that immediately on the comple- j 
tion of the act, before leaving the church, the official 
offered to him the prayer " Pray for us." In contrast 
with this, the apostolic injunction forces itself upon 
us, " Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord 
come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of 
darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the 
hearts : and then shall every man have praise of God 3 ." 1 

With regard to the awful extent to which the wor- 
ship of saints had grown before the Reformation, we 
have a mass of evidence on record which must make 
us thankful that our Church suffers us to pray only to 
God, and to seek his mercies only through the merits 
and intercession of his blessed Son our Saviour. We 
cannot consistently with the teaching of his Gospel 
and of his Church make any distinction between a 
Mediator of Redemption and a Mediator of Interces- 
sion, such as some of our Roman Catholic brethren 
would persuade us to adopt. Holy Scripture coun- 
tenances no such distinction. There we find the 
two oSices of redemption and mediation joined in 
Christ, and in Him alone : "If any man sin, we have 
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righte- 
ous, and he is the propitiation for our sins V And 

3 1 Cor. iv. 5. 4 1 John ii. 1, 2. 



Invocation of Saints. 



9 



the same Saviour who is declared to have " obtained 
j by his own blood eternal redemption for us," is an- 
j nounced to us also as the Mediator of Intercession: 
\ " Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost those 
who come unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth 
to make intercession for them 5 ." We are thankful, there- 
, fore, that our Church has restored to us this only sound 
and true doctrine — one God and one Mediator. 
But how was it before this sound doctrine was re- 
! stored? One service familiar to the people of our 
country at that time, is of itself enough, (and we 
| select it out of very many,) to enable us to answer that 
question— the Service of Thomas a Becket, arch- 
| bishop of Canterbury, whom some have denounced as 
I a rebel ; of whose condemnation as a sinner, or ad mis- 
! sion into heaven, the masters of Paris are reported to 
have disputed forty-eight years after his death ; and 
whom the Church of Rome canonized as a saint. Into 
the questions of his religious and moral excellence or 
delinquency our present inquiry does not lead us; 
! for our argument, we may consider him to be cor- 
I rectly represented by his most ardent admirers. The 
whole Service, consisting of biographical legends, and 
praises of Thomas a Becket, and declarations of 
the Divine vengeance upon his murderers, and prayers 
to him, may be read in a work on the Catalogue 
of the Society for Promoting Christian Know- 
ledge 6 . In the ninth lesson of the first Service we 
find this announcement: "At the cry of this blood 
the earth was moved and trembled. Nay, moreover, 
the powers of the heavens were moved ; so that, as if 
! for the avenging of innocent blood, nation rose against 
nation, and kingdom against kingdom ; nay, a king- 
dom was divided against itself; and terrors from 
heaven and great signs took place. Yet from the 
first period of his martyrdom the martyr began to 
shine forth with miracles, restoring sight to the blind, 
walking to the lame, hearing to the deaf, language to 

5 Heb. ix. 12. 6 Primitive Worship, p. 201. 

A 5 



10 Invocation of Saints. 

the dumb; afterwards cleansing the lepers, making 
the paralytic sound, healing the dropsy and all kinds 
of incurable diseases, restoring the dead to life, in a 
wonderful manner commanding the devils and all the 
elements ; he also put forth his hand to unwonted and 
unheard-of signs of his own power, for persons de- 
prived of their eyes merited by his merits to obtain 
new members," &c. 

Among the addresses to the Almighty for mercy 
through the merits and mediation of Thomas, and to 
Thomas for his own spiritual aid, we find the fol- 
lowing : — 

« O Christ Jesus, by the wounds of Thomas, 
loosen the sins which bind us, lest the enemy, the 
world, or the works of the flesh, bear us captive to 
hell. By thee, O Thomas, let the right hand of God 
embrace us. . . . Happy place, happy church, in 
which the memory of Thomas lives ! Happy the land 
which gave the prelate ! Happy the land which sup- 
ported him in exile ! Happy father, succour ^ us mise- 
rable, that we may be happy and joined with those 
above." " O good Jesus, by the merits of Thomas, 
forgive us our debts. Visit the house, the gate, the 
grave, and raise us from the threefold death. What 
has been lost by act, or in mind, or use, restore with 
thy wonted pity. Pray for us, O blessed Thomas ! 

" The grain'falls, and gives birth to an abundance 
of corn. 

« The alabaster-box is broken, and the odour of 
he ointment is powerful. 

" The whole world vies in love to the martyr whose 
wonderful signs strike all with astonishment. 

" The water for Thomas five times changing colour, 
once was turned into milk, four times into blood. 

" At the shrine of Thomas four times the^ light 
came down, and, to the glory of the saint, kindled 
the wax tapers. 

" Do Thou, by the blood of Thomas which 
he shed for Thee, cause us, O Christ, to as- 
cend whither Thomas has ascended. 




Invocation of Saints. 1 1 

4fi Extend succour to us, O Thomas, guide those 
who stand ; raise up those that fall. Correct our 
i morals, actions, life; and guide us in the way of 
peace." 

| This Service (which, as a writer 7 contemporary with 
I our Reformation tells us, used " full solemnly to be sung 
in the temples") suggests many serious reflections as to 
the state of religious worship in our country before the 
Reformation. It is indeed lamentable to find such le- 
gends substituted for the reading of the word of God. 
Of these lessons there are no less than fifteen. But even 
! more lamentable is the impression which this Service 
j must make on minds of ordinary power and cultiva- 
tion. Its natural, and, as we conceive, unavoidable 
\ tendency, is to withdraw the worshippers from contem- 
plating Christ, the only Saviour, and to fix their 
thoughts on the powers, the glory, the merits, and 
mediation of a fellow-creature. It is often said, that 
the worshippers will look beyond the martyr, and trace 
the blessings to Christ as the primary cause, and will 
1 think of the merits of Thomas as efficacious only 
through the merits of their Saviour; that in their 
religious addresses to Thomas, though they ask di- 
rectly of him mercies which God alone can bestow, 
they will only ask him to pray for them. But can this 
be so? Is it reasonable to expect such a result ? Does 
not experience prove the futility of such an expecta- 
tion ? Is not such a service rather a snare to the con- 
science ? at all events, a most dangerous experiment ? 
Let us look at it in one or two of its particular points. 
Does not the ascription of miracles to Thomas a 
Becket — does not the very form of enumerating those 
miracles tend much to exalt the servant to an equality 
with Him who alone doeth great wonders ? For the 
reader will observe a marked and lamentable absence 
of any immediate reference of those miracles to God, 
or ascription of glory to Him. So, too, many passages 
in this Service tend to withdraw the minds of the wor- 

I 

1 . 7 Becon, 1564, v. 183. 

A 6 

1 

k 

1 1 

lifer ^.-^^ 



12 Invocation of Saints. 

shippers from an implicit and exclusive dependence 
on the merits of Christ alone, and to tempt them to 
mingle, at all events, the merits of Thomas, in the 
work of grace and salvation, with the merits ot Christ s 
death and precious blood. 

We request the reader to reconsider the language 
already quoted from the Service of Thomas a Be eke t, 
and to compare it with the passages of that Word ot 
life and of death to which at last, if we are Christians, 
our appeal must be made, and from which there is no 
appeal. 



THE ROMAN CATHOLIC SERVICE 
OF THOMAS A BECKET. 

" O Christ Jesus, by the 
wounds of Thomas, loosen the 
sins which bind us." 



" O blessed Jesus, by the 
merits of Thomas, forgive us 
our debts, raise us from the 
threefold death." 

" Do Thou, O Christ, by the 
blood of Thomas, which he 
shed for Thee, cause us to ascend 
whither Thomas has ascended." 

" For thy sake, O Thomas, 
let the right hand of God em- 
brace us." 

" Send help to us, O Thomas.", 
« Guide thou those who stand." 



" Raise up those who fall." 



THE REVEALED WORD OF GOD. 

"Who his own self bare our 
sins in his own body on the tree, 
that we, being dead to sins, should 
live unto righteousness : by whose 
stripes ye were healed 8 ." 

" He who spared not his own 
Son, but gave him up for us all, 
how shall he not with him also 
freely give us all things 9 ? " 

"The blood of Jesus Christ 
cleanseth from all sin 1 



"By prayer and supplication 
with thanksgiving let your re- 
quests be made known unto 
God 2 ." 

" Lord, be thou my helper 3 ." 

" Thou shalt guide me by thy 
counsel V 

" The Lord upholdeth all that 
fall, and raiseth up all those that 
are bowed down 5 ." 



s 1 Pet. ii. 24. 9 Rom - viii - 32 - 

i 1 John i 7. 2 ML iv - 6 - 

* Psalm xxx. 10. ' * Psalm lxxiii. 24. 5 Psalm cxlv. 14. 



Invocation of Saints. 



" Correct our morals, actions, " Create in me a clean heart, 
and life." O God 6 ." 

" Guide us unto the way of " Now the Lord of peace him- 
peace." self give you peace always by all 

means 7 ." 

Compare also the language in which ascriptions of 
praise are couched to this departed mortal with the 
words which Holy Scripture appropriates to the eternal 
Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, the only wise God, 
our Saviour. 



ASCRIPTIONS OF PRAISE TO 
THOMAS A 13ECKET. 

" Hail, Thomas, thou Rod of 
justice I" 

" The brightness of the world." 

" The strength of the Church. 
The love of the people. The 
delight of the clergy." 



HOLY SCRIPTURE WHEN SPEAK- 
ING OF GOD. 

" There shall come a rod out of 
the stem of Jesse 8 ." "Ye denied 
the Holy One and the Just 9 ." 

" I am the Light of the world 1 ." 
" The brightness of his glory 2 ." 

(S I can do all things through 
Christ that strengthened me 3 ." 
" Christ loved the Church, and 
gave himself for it V (( I will 
love thee, O Lord, my strength 5 ." 
"Grace be with all them that 
love our Lord Jesus Christ in 
sincerity 6 .' : 
the Lord 7 .' 



<? Delight thou in 



" Hail, glorious guardian of 
the flock. Save those who re- 
joice in thy glory." 



" Our Lord Jesus, that great 
Shepherd of the sheep 8 ." "Give 
ear, O Shepherd of Israel, come 
and save us 9 ." <c He that glo- 
rieth, let him glory in the Lord 10 ." 

How can these prayers and praises be regarded as 
merely variations of the expression "Pray for us?" 
Try the real, genuine nature of these prayers and 
praises by this general test — change only the name, 
and substitute the holy name of the supreme God and 
Saviour for the name of Thomas a Becket, and then 



G Psalm li. 10. 
9 Acts iii. 14. 
3 Phil. iv. 13. 
6 Eph. vi. 24. 



7 2 Tliess. iii. 16. 
1 John viii. 12. 
4 Eph. v. 25. 
7 Psalm xxxvii. 4. 



8 Isa. xi. 1. 

2 Heb. i. 3. 

5 Psalm xviii. 1. 

8 Heb. xiii. 20. 



9 Psalm xxx. 1, 2. 



*o 1 Cor. i. 31. 



14 



Invocation of Saints. 



judge whether such devotions offered to the departed 
spirit of a fellow-creature, can be safe or justifiable. 



ROMAN SERVICE. 

" To Thomas all things bow 
and are obedient — plagues, dis- 
eases, death, and devils, fire, air, 
land, and sea. 

" Thomas fills the world with 
glory. 

" To Thomas the world offers 
obeisance. 

" Thomas shone forth with 
miracles. 

" Do thou, O Lord, by the 
blood of Thomas, cause us to as- 
cend whither he, Thomas, hath 
ascended. 

" O Thomas ! send us help. 
Guide those who stand. Raise up 
those who fall. Correct our morals, 
actions, and life ; and guide us 
into the way of peace. 

* O Thomas ! thou Rod of 
Justice ! the Brightness of the 
World! the Strength of the 
Church ! the Lover of the Peo- 
ple! the Delight of the Clergy! 
Glorious Guardian of the flock ! 
save Thou those who delight in 
thy glory." 



CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 

" To God all things bow and 
are obedient— plagues, diseases, 
death, and devils, fire, air, land, 
and sea. 

'•'God fills the world with 
glory. 

" To God the world offers 
obeisance. 

« The Lord Jesus shone forth 
with miracles. 

" Do thou, O Lord, by the 
blood of our Saviour Christ, cause 
us to ascend whither he "our 
Saviour hath ascended. 

" O God! send us help. Guide 
those who stande Raise up those 
who fall. Correct our morals, 
actions, and life; and guide us 
into the way of peace. 

" O Lord Jesus ! thou Rod of 
Justice! the Brightness of the 
World! the Strength of the 
Church ! the Lover of the Peo- 
ple ! the Delight of the Clergy ! 
Glorious Guardian of the flock! 
save Thou those who delight in 
thy glory." 



Can that worship become the disciples of the Gospel 
and' the cross which addresses such prayers and such 
praises to the spirit of a mortal man ? Every prayer 
and every form of praise here used in honour of Tho- 
mas a Becket it would well become Christians to offer 
to the eternal Giver of all good, trusting for accept- 
ance solely and exclusively to the mediation of Christ 
Jesus our Lord, and pleading only the merits of his 
most precious blood. We are, however, bound to con- 
fess, though in the ministrations authorized and ap- 
pointed by the Church of Rome in public worship at 
the present day we are not shocked by such startling 
language, yet that in principle, in spirit, and in fact, 



Invocation of Saints. 



15 



we can discover no substantial difference between this 
Service of Thomas of Canterbury and the Service which 
all persons in communion with the Church of Rome are 
under an obligation to use even at this very hour. 
Far, very far, are we from charging with idolatry our 
fellow-creatures who declare that they offer Divine wor- 
ship only to the supreme Lord of heaven and earth; 
but we know and feel that, according to the standard 
of Christian truth and the rule of pure worship of 
Almighty God, which the Scriptures and primitive 
antiquity compel us to adopt, we should stain our 
own souls with the guilt of idolatry, and with the sin 
of relying on other merits than Christ's, were we our- 
selves to join in those services. 



Invocation of Saints. — Present ivorship in the Church of 

Home, 

In our remarks on the Service of Thomas a Becket, 
w T hom our Roman Catholic brethren call St. Thomas 
of Canterbury, we observed, that although the same 
startling expressions and words do not now exist in the 
formularies of Rome, yet, that we are unable to find 
any real and essential difference in the objectionable 
points, between that service and the devotions at pre- 
sent prescribed and employed by that Church. We 
might, leaving more minute and subordinate distinc- 
tions, enumerate four grievous errors in that service, 
for which we shall not be long in discovering real 
parallels in the authorized books of the Church of 
Rome now. 

First, prayer is offered to God through the media- 
tion and intercession of the saints, instead of the 
mediation and intercession of Christ alone; and the 
merits of the saints are pleaded with God for the 
highest spiritual blessings. 

Secondly, prayer is offered to the saints, asking 
for their prayers at the throne of grace, agreeably to 
the representation of Bishop Baines. 



16 Invocation of Saints. 

Thirdly, prayer is offered to the saints, imploring* 
directlv at their hands gifts spiritual and temporal, 
which God alone can bestow ; agreeably to the repre- 
sentation made in the letter from Oscott above re- 
ferred to, ... 

Fourthly, praises are offered to them, and ascriptions 
of glory, such as Christians should offer only to the one 

supreme God. nix *i 

The following instances are all taken trom the 
present authorized and enjoined Liturgy of Rome. 

1. First, prayer is offered to the Almighty, through 
the mediation and intercession of the saints ; and the 
Almighty is supplicated to grant to the worshippers the 
benefits of the advocacy and intercession of particular 
saints by name 1 . , , . , 

"We beseech Thee, Almighty God, that he whose 
feast we are about to celebrate, may implore thy aid 
for us: that he may be for us a perpetual inter- 
cessor.— A. 545. 551. " We beseech Thee, O Lord, let 
the intercession of the blessed Anthony, the abbot, 
commend us, that what we cannot effect by our own 
merits, we may obtain by his patronage, through the 
Lord."— H. 490. 

On this point it may be wise to compare two prayers 
of the Romish Church, both offered to Almighty God, 
and both seeking at his hand the self-same recovery 
from the misery into which sin had plunged the 
worshippers ; but the one prayer imploring that mercy 
through the intercession of his dear and only Son, the 
other ^pleading the advocacy of a mortal man. 

« We beseech thee, Almighty " O God, who hast granted the 

God, that we, who among so many rewards of eternal blessedness 

adversities from our own infirmity to the soul of thy servantGregory , 

fail, the passion of thy only be- grant that we who are pressed 

o-otten Son interceding for us down by the weight of our sms, 

Siay revive."— V. 243.; may by hisprayers with Thee be 

raised up."— V. 480. 



1 These references are made chiefly to the Roman Breviary, pub- 
lished under the Pope's sanction and patronage at Norwich, in the 
year 1830, by the Rev. F. C. Husenbeth, expressly adapted to the use of 
England. It is in four volumes, corresponding with the quarters of 
the 5 year. A. stands for autumn, JE. for summer, H. for winter, V. for 
spring. 



Invocation of Saints. 



17 



Thus do tlie authorized services of Rome teach 
Christians to seek at God's hand a supply of their 
wants, in return for the prayers and intercession of 
their departed fellow mortals, of whose present condi- 
tion neither reason nor revelation gives them any 
assurance. But there is another form of the same 
class of prayers which contradicts our judgment and 
shocks our feelings more even than the form of which 
we have here given instances. We are admonished 
by the written word of God, and the earliest wor- 
ship of the Church of Christ, that by joining in 
such a form of prayer, we should do wrong to our 
Saviour, and un thankfully disparage his inestimable 
merits, and the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice 
and satisfaction of his omnipotent atonement. The 
form we mean consists of prayers to God, which 
supplicate that our present and future good may be 
advanced by the merits of departed mortals ; that 
by their merits our sins may be forgiven, and our 
salvation secured; that by their merits our souls 
may be made fit for celestial joys, and be finally ad- 
mitted into heaven. Of these prayers the Roman 
Breviary forces upon us a great variety of examples, 
some exceeding others in their apparent forgetfulness 
of the merits of the only Saviour, and consequently 
far more shocking to the reason and affections of us, 
who hold it a point of conscience to make the merits of 
Christ, exclusively of any other to be joined with 
them, the only ground of a believer's acceptance with 
God. 

" O God, who didst adorn the blessed Pontiff 
Nicholas with unnumbered miracles, grant, we beseech 
Thee, that by his merits and prayers we may be set 
free from the fires of hell, through," &c. — H. 436. 

Another instance occurs in the Collect for the 19th 
March, in which the Church of Rome teaches her 
members to pray to God for the benefit of Joseph's 
intercession, and to hope for succour from his merits. 

" We beseech Thee, O Lord, that we may be suc- 
coured by the merits of the husband of thy most holy 



13 Invocation of Saints. 

mother, so that what we cannot obtain by our own power 
may be granted to us by his intercession." — V. 486. 

Under this head we will add only one more instance, 
in which the Church of Rome directs her people to offer 
this praver to Christ, 

" O God, whose right hand raised the blessea Peter 
when walking on the waves so that he did not sink, 
and rescued from the depth of the sea his fellow apostle 
Paul, for the third time suffering shipwreck; mercifully 
hear us, and grant that by the merits of both we 
may obtain the glory of eternity." — H. 149. ^ 

Now suppose for a moment it had been intended in 
any one prayer, to exclude negatively the merits of 
Christ from the great work of our salvation, ^ and 
to limit our hopes of everlasting glory to the merits of 
St. Peter and St. Paul, could the object have been 
more effectuallv secured than by this prayer ? No re- 
ference is here'made, even by allusion, to the merits of 
Christ's death,— none to his "merits as our Redeemer, 
none to his merits as our Intercessor. The worshipper 
is led to approach the throne of grace only with the 
merits of the two apostles on his tongue. If those 
who offer this prayer, hope for acceptance through the 
mediation of Jesus Christ, and for the sake of his 
merits, that hope is neither suggested nor fostered by 
their prayer, the truth as it is in Jesus would compel 
us, in addressing Him as the Saviour of the world, to 
think of the merits neither of Peter nor of Paul, neither 
of angel nor spirit. Instead of praying to Him that 
we may obtain the glories of eternity for their merits, 
true faith in Christ would compel us to throw ourselves 
implicitly on his all-perfect and omnipotent merit 
alone, and implore the blessing for his own mercy s 
sake. If we receive the whole truth, can it be other- 
wise than a disparagement of his merits to plead with 
Him the merits of one whom the Saviour Himself 
rebuked with as severe a sentence as ever fell from his 
lips ; and of another who after- his conversion, when 
speaking of the salvation wrought by Christ, in profound 
humility confesses himself to be a chief of those sin- 



Invocation of Saints. 



19 



ners for whom Christ died 3 ? We- feel, indeed, a sure 
and certain hope that these two fellow-creatures, once 
sinners, but by God's grace afterwards saints, have 
found mercy with God, and will, through Christ, live 
with Christ for ever ; but for us to pray for the same 
mercy at his hand, for the sake of their merits, is re- 
pugnant to the first principles of our Christian faith. 
When we think of merits for which to plead for mercy, 
we can think of Christ's, and of Christ's alone. 

2. The second class of invocation in our division, 
comprehends those addresses to the saints which im- 
plore them to pray for the worshippers. These occur 
so frequently in every part of the authorized worship of 
Rome, that we need not lengthen the present section 
by enumerating many instances. One example both of 
the preceding class, and of this in juxtaposition, occurs 
in the case of Ambrose, bishop of Milan. The Church 
of Rome has availed herself of his pious labours, and 
lias introduced into her public worship many of the 
hymns usually ascribed to him. It had been well for 
Christian truth and apostolic worship had she followed 
his example in addressing her invocations to no one 
but our Creator, our Redeemer, and our Sanctifier. 

" O God, who didst assign to thy people the blessed 
Ambrose, as a minister of eternal salvation, grant, we 
beseech Thee, that we may deserve to have him as our 
intercessor in heaven, whom we had as a teacher of 
life upon earth !" 

" O thou most excellent teacher, the light of the 
Holy Church ! O blessed Ambrose, thou lover of the 
divine law, deprecate the Son of God for us !" 

In the " Litany of the Saints " more than fifty dif- 
ferent persons are enumerated by name, and are im- 
plored to pray and intercede for those who join in it; 
among them are Raphael, Gervasius, Protasius, and 
Mary Magdalene; whilst in the Litany for the re- 
commendation of the soul of the sick and dying, the 
names of Abel and Abraham are specified. 

Under this head we will cite only one more example. 



2 Matt. xvi. 23. 



3 1 Tim. i. 15. 



20 Invocation of Saints. 

Indeed, it mav be doubted whether the hymn would 
be more properly classed under this head or reserved 
for the next, since it seems to partake of the nature ot 
each. It supplicates the martyr to obtain spiritual 
blessings by his prayers, and yet addresses him as the 
power who is to grant those blessings It implores 
him, indeed, to liberate us by the love of Christ; but 
so should we implore the eternal Father of mercies 
Himself. We think it, however, the safe course to cite 
it under this head, as merely a prayer to bt. Stephen 
to pray for us. But it may be well to derive from it 
a lesson on this point, how easily the transition is made 
from one false step to a worse ; and how infinitely 
wiser and safer it is to avoid evil in its very lowest and 
least objectionable character. 

« Martyr of God ! [or unconquered martyr] who, 
by following the only Son of the Father, triumphest 
over thy conquered enemies, and as conqueror enjoyest 
heavenly things, wash out by the office of thy prayer 
our guilt, driving away the contagion ot evil, ihe 
bands of thy hallowed body are already loosed; loose 
thou us from the bands of the world, by the love of the 
Son of God [or by the gift of God] most high . — H. 
267 

■ 3. But thirdly, the Roman Church (we say this with 
the declaration of Bishop Baines, &c. on the one side, 
and the Letter from Oscott, &c. on the other, before us) 
by no means limits herself to this one kind of invoca- 
tion. Prayers are addressed to saints imploring them to 



xioii. riayeioaicouuii-oovu vv U A 0 . 

hear, and as of themselves to grant, the prayers ot the 
faithful on earth, and to release them from the bands 
of sin, without any allusion to the intercession ot those 
saints. Thus, in the Gradual on St. Michael s day, 
this prayer is offered to him :— , 

« O holy Michael, O Archangel, defend us in battle, 
that we perish not in the dreadful judgment !" 

When we read the invocation made to St. Peter on 
the 18th of January, called the Anniversary of the 
Chair of St. Peter at Rome, the words of our blessed 

* In the above hymn the words included in brackets are the read- 



Invocation of Saints. 21 

Lord Himself and of bis beloved apostle seem to rise 
up in judgment and to condemn that prayer. 

" Now, O good shepherd, merciful Peter, accept the 
prayers of us who supplicate, and loose the bands of 
our sins by the power committed unto thee, by which 
thou shuttest heaven against all by a word, and 
openest it 5 !" — H. 497. 

It may be well to place the several members ot this 
address to Peter side by side with the language of Holy 
Scripture, and then ask, can such a form of devotion be 

" Merciful Peter, O thou good " Jesus saith, I am the good 
shepherd," Shepherd 6 ." 

« Accept the prayers of us who " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my 
supplicate:" name, that will I do . ^That 

rr whatsoever ye shall ask the t atner 

in my name, he may give it you 8 ." 

« And loose the hands of our " The blood of Jesus Christ, 
sins, by the power committed to his Son, cleanseth from all sins . 
thee :" 

"By which thou shuttest " These things saith he that is 
heaven against all by a word, and holy, he that is true, he that 
openest it." openeth, and nomanshutteth ; and 

1 ' shutteth, and no man openeth 1 ." 

"Iam he that liveth, and was dead ; 
and T am alive for evermore, and 
have the keys of hell and of 
death 2 ." 



incrs adopted in the last edition of the Roman Breviary, printed in 
-England (1830); and it may be well here to observe, that we find 
various readings in the hymns, as they are now printed for the use ot 
Roman Catholics in different countries. In some instances the 
changes are curious and striking. Grancolas, in his historical com- 
mentary on the Roman Breviary (Venice, 1734, p. 84) furnishes us 
with interesting information as to the chief cause of this diversity. 
Pope Urban VIII., who was Pontiff from 1623 to 1644, himself a man 
of letters and a poet, took measures for the emendation of the hymns 
in the Roman Breviary. His taste was offended by the many defects 
in their metrical composition, and upwards of 950 faults in metre 
are said to have been corrected. This gave Urban occasion to say that 
the Fathers had begun rather than completed the hymns. According 
to Grancolas, many complained of these changes, alleging that primi- 
tive simplicitv had been sacrificed topoetry. " Accessit Latinitas,reces- 
sit pietas." The verse was neater, but the pious feeling was chilled. 

* This hymn has undergone many changes since its first adoption 
into the Roman Breviary. 

6 John x. 14. 7 John xiv. 13. 8 John xv 16. 

9 1 John i. 7- 1 R ev - Hi 7- Rev - «■ 18 « 



22 



Invocation of Saints. 



The same unsatisfactory associations must be ex- 
cited in the minds of all who ground their faith and 
worship on the word of God, by the following suppli- 
cations to various saints on St. John's day. The reader 
cannot fail to observe how peculiarly fitting would the 
expressions of this hymn be in an address to our God 
and only Saviour, and our Judge ; whereas, when they 
are used in a devotional prayer to our fellow-creatures, 
the words of inspiration condemn every sentence. 

" Let the world exult with joy, let the heaven re- 
sound with praise : the earth and stars sing together 
the glory of the Apostles. Ye Judges of the Ages, 
and true Lights of the world, we implore with the 
prayers of our hearts, hear the voices of your suppli- 
ants. Ye who, by a word, shut the temples of heaven 
and loose its bars, command us, who are guilty, to 
be released from our sins, we pray. Ye, of whose 
commands sickness and health are immediatelysensible, 
heal our languid minds, increase virtues in us, so that 
when Christ the Judge shall return at the end of the 
world, he may grant us to be partakers of eternal joy. 
Jesus, to Thee be glory, who wast born of a virgin, with 
the Father, and the Benign Spirit, through eternal 
ages. Amen." — H. 243. 



4. On the subject of our present examination we 
will only quote one more case — the prayers and praises 
offered in the Roman Ritual to Joseph, the husband 
of the Virgin Mary, which will supply us with a suf- 
ficient proof of the fourth error above specified. Of Jo- 
seph mention is made byname in the Gospel, just before 
and just after the birth of Christ, as an upright, merciful 
man, to whom God on three several occasions, by the 
medium of a dream, made a direct revelation of his will 
with reference to the incarnate Saviour. Again, on 
the holy family visiting Jerusalem, when our Lord 
was twelve years old, Mary, in her remonstrance with 
her Son, speaks thus : " Why hast thou thus dealt 
with us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee 
sorrowing." On which not one word was uttered by 



Invocation of Saints. 



23 



our Saviour enabling us to form an opinion as to 
his own will with regard to Joseph. He seems pur- 
posely to have withdrawn their thoughts from his 
earthly connexion with them, and to have raised their 
minds to his unearthly, his heavenly and eternal origin. 
" How is it that ye sought me ? Wist ye not that I 
must be about my Father's business?" After this 
time, though the sacred writings, either historical, doc- 
trinal, or prophetical, embrace at the lowest calcula- 
tion a period of fourscore years, no allusion is made 
to Joseph as still living, nor to his memory as one 
already dead. And yet not only does Rome teach her 
members to pray to God for the benefits of his merits 
and intercession, but offers prayers to Joseph himself, 
as w r ell to obtain his prayer, as to procure from him 
" gifts and graces which God alone can bestow," and 
offering him praises and honours which are due only 
to God our Saviour. 

Of course, in the Litany of the Saints, " St. Joseph 
pray for us," is one of the suffrages ; but on his day 
(March 19), we find three hymns addressed to him, 
full of lamentable superstition, assigning to him a share 
at least in the work of our salvation, and solemnly 
stating as a truth what, whether true or false, rests on a 
groundless legend, namely, that our blessed Lord and 
Mary watched by him at his death ; ascribing also, as 
we have intimated, that honour and praise to Joseph 
which the Church, from its earliest days, was wont to 
offer to God alone. The following are extracts from 
these hymns : — 

First Hymn — M Let the companies of heaven cele- 
brate thee, O Joseph ! Thee let all the choirs of 
Christian people resound ; who, bright in merits, wast 
joined in chaste covenant with the renowned Virgin. 
Others their pious death consecrates after death, and 
glory awaits those who deserve the palm. Thou, when 
alive, equal to those above, more blessed by wondrous 
lot, enjoyedst God. O Trinity most high? spare us who 
pray ; grant us to reach Heaven [to scale the stars] 
by the merits of Joseph, that, at the last, we may 
perpetually offer thee a grateful song." — V. 485. 



f>4 Invocation of Saints. 

Second Hymn— " O Joseph, the glory of those in 
Heaven, and" the sure hope of our life, and the safe- 
guard of the world, benignly accept the praises 
which we joyfully sing to thee. Perpetual praise 
to the most high Trinity, who, granting to thee 
honours on high, give to us, by thy merits, the joys 
of a blessed life."— V. 486. 

Third Hymn—" He whom we the faithful worship 
with joy, whose exalted triumphs we celebrate, Joseph 
on this day obtained the joys of eternal life. O, too 
happy ! O, too blessed ! at whose last hour Christ and 
the Virgin together, with serene countenances, stood 
watching. Hence he, the conqueror of hell, freed 
from the bonds of the flesh, removes in placid repose 
to the everlasting seats, and binds his temples with 
bright chaplets. Him, therefore, reigning, let us all 
importunately pray, that he would be present with us, 
and that he, obtaining pardon for our transgressions, 
would assign to us the rewards of peace on high. 

« Be praises to thee, be honours to thee, O true 
God, who reignest and assignest golden crowns to 
thy faithful servants for ever. Amen."— V. 490. ^ 
It is painful to remark, that the very same word is 
employed when the Church of Rome requests Joseph to 
assign to the faithful the rewards of peace, and when 
glory is ascribed to God for assigning crowns to his 
faithful servants. These hymns contain expressions 
which ought to be addressed to the Saviour alone, 
whose " glory is in the heavens," who is "the hope of 
us on earth," and "the safeguard of the world." 
Speaking the truth in love, we confess it would be im- 
piety and sin in us to offer these prayers and praises to 
the soul of any man, however holy, however blessed, 
however exalted. 



Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



Nos. IV. & V. 



ON THE 

INVOCATION OF SAINTS AND 
ANGELS. 

IV. EVIDENCE OP THE OLD TESTAMENT 

AGAINST IT. 

V. EVIDENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 

AGAINST IT. 




LONDON: 

Printed for the 

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, 
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE; 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 



[654] 



]846. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts are the first of a series intended to be 
issued, on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome . The following have already been published : — 

I. On the Supremacy of the Pope. 
It On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pcpe, 

III. Ox the Invocation of Saints axd Angels. 

IV. Ox the Invocation of Saints axd Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Old Testament against it. 

V Ox the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the New Testament against it. 

VI. Ox the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it. 

VII. On the Invocation cf Saints and Angels. — Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it— 
[continued]. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evidence of Holy 
Scriptiwe. 

The Church of Rome, as we have seen in a previous 
section, teaches her members to pray to the angels of 
heaven, and the souls of the faithful departed now 
with God, for their intercessions, and for blessings, 
and graces, and benefits, which God alone can bestow; 
and moreover, to plead the merits of the same saints 
as a ground of their own acceptance with God ; and 
to offer them religious praise and honour. Both in 
faith and in practice the Church of England holds all 
this to be wrong, unsound, unjustifiable, and dangerous; 
and ^maintains that a Christian, whether engaged in 
public worship or in private devotions, must, if he 
would be safe, address his prayers to God alone, and 
seek blessings in no other way than by directly apply- 
ing for them to God alone ; and in his supplications 
to the Almighty, plead only the merits, and trust 
only to the mediation and intercession of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, the one only Mediator, either of redemp- 
tion or of intercession, between God and man. 

Now as persons to whom the supreme Creator, 
Redeemer, and Sanctifier, has entrusted the oracles of 

a 2 



4 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

truth, the written revelation of his will, the first step 
to be taken by us in the way of determining which of 
these two contradictory and irreconcilable systems is 
the true and safe system, and which is unsound and 
dangerous, will of necessity be to ascertain what conclu- 
sions an honest study of that revealed will of God 
would lead us to form: we must search which is the 
faith and practice countenanced, recommended, or pre- 
scribed in the sacred Book, both in the times of the 
elder covenant, when « holy men of old spake as they 
were moved by the Holy Ghost," and also in that 
« fulness of time " when God spoke to us by his bon. 

And here, on this first entrance upon a review ot 
the inspired volume, it will be well for us briefly to 
recall the principles and tone of mind, the temper and 
feelino-s, the frame both of the understanding and the 
heart,°with which we should study the sacred pages 
on whatever subject we would try all things, and hold 
fast what should prove itself most in accordance with 
tlie will of God. The two great parts into which the 
-books of Holy Scripture are divided, are sometimes 
called the Old and New Testaments, sometimes the 
Old and New Covenants. But whichever view we 
prefer to take, the practical result will not be in the 
least affected. Different associations are suggested by 
"these different titles of the inspired volume; yet, 
under either view, the same honest and good heart, 
the same patience of investigation, the same upright 
and unprejudiced judgment, the same exercise ot our 
faculties, and the same enlightened conscience, must 
.be brought to the investigation. 

Regarding; the book of God as a covenant, we must 
.endeavour to ascertain its true intent and meaning on 
principles the very same with those on which we 
would interpret a covenant made by ourselves with a 
person who had joined in it, in full and unsuspect- 
ing reliance on our integrity, justice, and honour. 

booking upon the Bible as a will or testament, 
we must bring with us the same principles and feeling* 



Evidence of Holy Scripture. 



5 



to our inquiry as we should apply if we were called to 
interpret the last will and testament of our own father, 
w r ho, with implicit confidence in our uprightness and 
straightforward dealing, and in our affectionate anxiety 
to fulfil his intentions, had assigned to us the sacred 
duty of executor or trustee. 

Under the first supposition, our anxiety would be 
to discover the true intent and meaning of the con- 
tracting party ; not to seek out plausible excuses for 
departing from it; not to cull out and exaggerate 
such expressions as might seem to justify us in adopt- 
ing the view of the contract most agreeable to our 
present wishes, and most favourable to our own in- 
terests. Our fixed purpose would be, at whatever 
cost of time, or labour, or self-sacrifice, or personal 
discomfort, to apply our unbiassed judgment to the 
interpretation of the deed. 

Or, adopting the other analogy, our single desire 
would be to ascertain the chief and leading objects of 
our parent's will ; what were his intentions generally, 
what ruling principles seem to have guided him in 
adopting its provisions ; and in all cases of obscurity 
and doubt, in every thing approaching an appearance 
of inconsistency in one part with another, we should 
refer to that great and pervading principle as our test 
and guide. We should never seek for ambiguous ex- 
pressions, which might be ingeniously interpreted so 
as to countenance our departure from the general 
drift of the will. 

Now, only let us act upon these principles in the 
interpretation of that covenant in which the Al- 
mighty has deigned to make Himself one of the con- 
tracting parties, and man the other ; only let us act 
on these principles in the interpretation of that tes- 
tament of which the Saviour of the world is the 
Testator ; and, with God's blessing, we need not fear 
the result. Any other principle of interpreting the 
Bible will only confirm the inquirer's prejudices, and 
involve him more deeply in error. 

a 3 



6 



Invocation of Saints and Angels. 



EVIDENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

Let us then suppose that a person of a cultivated 
mind and sound judgment, but hitherto a stranger to 
revelation, were required to study the Old Testament, 
with the single view of ascertaining what one object 
more than any other (subordinate to the great end of 
preoaring the world for the promised Saviour) seemed 
to be proposed by the Almighty, in imparting to 
mankind that revelation ; could he fix upon any 
other point with so much reason as he w T ouldupon this, 
—the preservation in the world of a practical belief 
in the perfect unity of God, and the protection of his 
worship against the admixture of any other worship 
whatever; the announcement that the Creator and 
Governor of the universe is the sole Giver of every 
temporal and spiritual blessing, the one only Being to 
whom his rational creatures on earth should pay any 
religious service whatever, the one only Being to 
whom mortals must seek, by invocation and prayer, 
for the supply of all their wants ? Through the entire 
volume the inquirer would find, that the unity of 
God is announced in every variety of expression ; and 
that the exclusive worship of Him alone is insisted 
upon, and guarded and fenced with the utmost jea- 
lousy, and in every variety of way, as of the God who 
heareth prayer, alone to be called upon, alone to be 
invoked, alone to be adored. So to speak, he would 
find that recourse was had to every expedient for tne 
express purpose of protecting God's people from em- 
bracing *in their worship any other being or name 
whatever. He would find not that supreme adoration 
was reserved for the Supreme Being, while a sort of 
secondary honour and inferior invocation was allowed 
to his own exalted saints and servants : but that the 
laws of God banished at once and for ever the most 
distant approximation towards religious honour, the 
veriest shadow of spiritual invocation to any being 
except Jehovah Himself alone. 



Evidence of Old Testament against it. 



In process of time the heathen began to deify those 
mortals who had conferred signal benefits on the 
human race, or had distinguished themselves in power 
and skill above their fellow-mortals ; and thus male and 
female divinities were multiplied on every side. Toge- 
ther with Jupiter, the fabled father of gods and men, 
who was worshipped under various names in different 
countries, were associated those " gods many and lords 
many" which ignorance and superstition, or policy 
and craft, had invented, and which shared some a 
greater, some a less portion of popular veneration 
and religious worship. To the people of God it was 
again and again most solemnly and awfully denounced, 
that no such thing should be. " Thou shalt worship 
: the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve," 
is a mandate repeated in every variety of language, 
and under every variety of circumstance. In some 
passages, indeed, together with the most clear assur- 
ances that mortal men need apply to no other dis- 
penser of good, and can want no other, as saviour, 
! advocate, or intercessor, that same truth is announced 
with such superabundance of repetition, that in the 
productions of any human writer, the style would be 
liable to the charge of tautology. In the Bible this 
repetition serves only to fix on the mind that same 
principle as an eternal verity never to be questioned, 
never to be dispensed with, never to be diluted or 
qualified, never to be invaded by any service, worship, 
prayer, invocation, or adoration of any other being 
whatever. Take for example the forty-fifth chapter 
of Isaiah : " I am the Lord, and there is none else, 
there is no God beside me : I guided thee, though 
thou hast not known me : that they may know from 
the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is 
none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none 
else. They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, 
all of them : they shall go to confusion together that 
are makers of idols. But Israel shall be saved in the 
| Lord with an everlasting salvation : ye shall not be 

a 4 



8 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

ashamed nor confounded world without end. I am 
the Lord ; and there is none else. I said not unto the 
seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. They have no 
knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, 
and pray unto a god that cannot save. There is no 
God beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none 
beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the 
ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else." 

But to multiply such passages is needless. Mem- 
bers of the Church of Rome will say, that they ac- 
knowledge, as fully as members of our own Church 
can do, that there is but one supreme God and Lord, 
to whom alone they intend to offer the worship due 
to God; and that the appeals which they offer byway 
of invocation to saints and angels, for their intercession 
and good offices, do not contravene this principle. 
But without for a moment questioning their sincerity 
in making that profession, it may be well here to ask 
ourselves these few questions: — 

First, if it had been intended by the Almighty 
to forbid any religious application (such as is now 
professedly the Invocation of Saints and Angels) to 
any other being than Himself alone, what words could 
have been employed more stringently prohibitory ? 

Secondly, had such an address to saints and angels 
as the Church of Rome now confessedly makes, been 
contemplated by our heavenly Lawgiver as an excep- 
tion to the general rule, would not some saving clause, 
some expressions indicating such an intended excep- 
tion, have been made in mercy and wisdom? Would 
not some allusion to it have been discoverable in some 
page or other of his Divine will ? 

Thirdly, if such an appeal to the angels of light, or 
to the spirits of just men made perfect in heaven, had 
been sanctioned under the elder covenant, would not 
some examples, some few instances, at least some one 
solitary instance, have been recorded of a faithful 
servant of God offering such a prayer with the Divine 
permission ? 



Evidence of Old Testament against it. 9 

Lastly, when such strong and repeated declarations 
and injunctions, interspersed through the entire 
volume of the Old Testament, show beyond all ques- 
tion the will of God to be, that no other object of 
| religious worship should have any place in the heart 
! or on the tongue of his own true spiritual sons and 
daughters, is it becoming in a faithful child of our 
heavenly Father to seek for excuses and palliations, 
and to invent distinctions between one kind of worship 
and another ? After so many positive warnings 
against seeking by prayer the aid of any other being 
whatever, is not a positive command required to 
i justify a mortal man in preferring any prayer to any 
being, saint, angel, or archangel, save only the one 
■ supreme God alone? Instead of any such com- 
mand, or even permission, appearing, not one single 
word occurs, from the first syllable in the book of 
Genesis to the last of the prophet Malachi, which 
can be forced or strained to countenance the prac- 
; tice of addressing any created being in prayer. 

It may, however, be satisfactory to look to such 
examples in the Old Testament as may seem to have 
a direct and genuine bearing on the subject. Very 
many a prayer is recorded of men, to whose sanctity, 
and integrity, and acceptance with God, the Spirit 
Himself has set his seal ; yet among these prayers 
there is not found one invocation addressed to saint 
or angel. 

The whole book of Psalms is a manual of devotion, 
consisting of prayers and praises, composed some by 
Moses, some by other inspired Israelites of less note, 
but chiefly by David himself; and what is the force 
and tendency of their example ? Words are spoken 
in praise of " Moses and Aaron among his 
saints," and of " Samuel among such as called upon 
his name," and mention is made with becoming 
reverence of the "angels of his that do Him service," 
but not one word ever falls from the pen of the 

' psalmist addressed by way of invocation to saint or 

1 a 5 



10 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

angel. In the Roman Ritual supplication is made to 
Abel and Abraham as well as to Michael and all 
angels. If it is now lawful, if it is now the duty 
of the worshippers of the true God, to seek his aid 
through the mediation of those spirits, can we avoid 
asking why the inspired patriarchs did not appeal 
to Abel for his mediation ? Why did not the inspired 
David invoke the father of the faithful to intercede 
for him with God? If the souls of those faithful 
ones, who in their lifetime appeared to their fellow- 
mortals to be accepted servants and honoured saints, 
may be safely addressed in prayer, and be invoked by 
an act of religious supplication,* either to grant us aid, 
or to intercede with God for aid in our behalf, why 
did not men, whom God Himself declared to be par- 
takers of his Spirit, offer the same supplication to 
such departed spirits, as before and after their decease 
had this testimony from Omniscience itself, that they 
pleased God? Why is no intimation given in the 
later books of the Old Testament, that such invo- 
cations were addressed to Moses, or Aaron, or Noah, 
or Abraham ? 

When wrath was gone out from the presence of the 
Lord, and the plague was begun among the people, 
Aaron took a censer in his hand, and stood between 
the living and the dead, and the plague was stayed. 
If the soul of Aaron was to be regarded as a spirit 
influential with God, one whose intercession could 
avail, one who ought, were it only for his intercession, 
to be approached in prayer ; could a stronger motive 
be conceived for suggesting that invocation than 
David must have felt, when the pestilence was de- 
stroying its thousands around him, and all his glory, 
and strength, and his very life, too, were threatened 
by its resistless ravages ? But no ; neither Abel, nor 
Abraham, nor Moses, nor Aaron, must be petitioned 
to intercede with God, and implore Him to stay his 
hand. To God, and God alone, for his own mercy's 
sake, must his afflicted servant turn in supplication. 



Evidence of Old Testament against it. 11 

Among his prayers we find no " Holy Abraham, pray 
for us ¥' " Holy Abel, pray for us !" " Holy Aaron, 
mediate for us, as thou didst for thy brethren of old !" 
His own Psalm of thanksgiving well describes the 
object and the nature of his prayer, " When the 
waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly 
men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed 
me about : the snares of death prevented me. In my 
distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: 
and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my 
cry did enter into his ears." 

Abraham, when on earth, prayed God to spare the 
offending people of Sodom and Gomorrah ; but he in- 
voked neither Noah, nor Abel, nor any of the faithful 
departed, to join their intercessions with his own. Isaac 
prayed to God for his son Jacob 3 but he did not ask the 
mediation of Abraham in his behalf; and when Jacob 
in his turn supplicated an especial blessing^ on his 
grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, though with gra- 
titude he called to his mind, and expressed with his 
tongue the devotedness to the Almighty both of Abra- 
ham and of Isaac, yet we never find him appealing to 
them, or invoking their intercession with the Lord. 

When the conscience-struck Israelites felt that they 
had exposed themselves by sin to the wrath of the 
Almighty, whose Sovereign power, on the prayer of 
Samuel, they then witnessed, distrusting the effi- 
cacy of their own supplication, and confiding in the 
intercession of that man of God, they implored 
Samuel to intercede for them; and Samuel answered 
their appeal with an assurance, that he would under- 
take to plead their cause with heaven. " And all the 
people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto 
the Lord thy God, that we die not. And Samuel 
said unto the people, Fear not. . . The Lord will not 
forsake his people for his great name's sake. . . . 
Moreover, God forbid that I should sin against the 
Lord in ceasing to pray for you." The Holy Spirit 
numbers Samuel among those who " called upon his 

a 6 



12 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

name:" and when Samuel died, all Israel were 
gathered together to lament, and to bury him ; but 
when he was once removed from them by death, 
we read of no petition being offered to him to carry 
on the same intercessory office in their behalf. As 
long as he was alive in the flesh, and sojourned 
on earth with his brethren, they besought him to 
pray for them, to intercede for blessings with their 
God and his God (just as among # ourselves one 
Christian asks another to pray for him); but when 
Samuel's body had been buried in peace, and his soul 
had returned to God who gave it, the Bible never 
records any further application to him ; we never read 
of his being " suppliantly invoked," we nowhere 
find " Holy Samuel, pray for us !" 

Again, what announcement could the Almighty 
Himself make more expressive of his acceptance of 
the persons of any, than He actually and repeatedly 
made to Moses with regard to Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob? How could He more clearly intimate, that 
if "the spirits of just men made perfect" could exercise 
intercessory or mediatorial influence with Him, those 
three holy patriarchs would possess such power above 
all others who had ever lived on the earth? " I am 
the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid 
his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. — 
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 
The God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the 
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto 
you : this is my name for ever, and this is my memo- 
rial throughout all generations 1 ." Did then Moses, 
in his alarm and dread, when he was afraid to look 
upon God, call upon those holy and accepted servants 
to aid him in his perplexity, and intercede for him 
and his people with the Eternal Being on whose 
Majesty he dared not to look ? Did he teach his 



1 Exod. iii. G. 15. 



Evidence of Old Testament against it. 13 

people to invoke Abraham, the father of the faithful? 
That was far from him. 

When Moses himself, that saint and servant of the 
Lord, was called hence, and was buried (though no 
mortal man was allowed to know the place of his 
sepulture), did the survivors pray to him for his help 
and intercession with God ? He had wrought before 
their eyes so many and great miracles as never had 
before been witnessed on earth ; he had in his lifetime 
been admitted to talk with the Almighty as a man 
talketh with his friend, and yet the sacred page records 
no invocation ever breathed to his departed spirit. 

We need not multiply instances, and we will here 
refer only to one more. Hezekiah, who " trusted in 
the Lord God of Israel 2 , 5 ' and clave to the Lord, and 
departed not from following him, but kept his com- 
mandments when he and his people were in great 
peril, addressed his prayer only to God. He offered 
no invocation to holy David to intercede with the 
Almighty for his own Jerusalem ; he made his suppli- 
cation directly and exclusively to the Lord God of 
Israel. And yet the very answer made to that prayer 
would have seemed to justify Hezekiah in seeking 
hoi}'- David's mediation, if prayer for the intercession 
of any departed mortal could ever have been sanctioned 
by heaven. " Thus saith the Lord, the God of David 
thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy 
tears : behold, I will heal thee : and I will defend 
this city for mine own sake, and for my servant 
David's sake 3 ." Of what saint in the calendar was 
such a thing as this ever spoken ? 

This then is the evidence borne by the books 
of the Old Testament. No prayer to angel or 
beatified spirit occurs from its first to its last page. 
And this is indeed confessed by the chief champions of 
the Romish Church, though at the same time there is 
a strong and inconsistent desire to enlist some pas- 
sages in favour of the invocation of angels, to which 

2 2 Kings xix. 1 5. 3 Kings xx. 5 ; 6. 



14 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

we must briefly refer before we bring this subject to 

a< Those writers who openly confess that the Old 
Testament affords no instance of invocation being- 
offered to the spirits of departed mortals, and are yet 
desirous of escaping from the force of that evidence as 
conclusive against the present adoration of saints 
and angels in the Church of Rome, have recourse to 
one or the other of two arguments, both equally 
untenable, to reconcile that fact with their present 
belief and practice. ; . , 

One class, with Cardinal Bellarmin at their head, 
allege this reason, "No one can be invoked who 
is not admitted to the presence of God m heaven ; 
but before Christ went down to hell and released the 
spirits from prison, no mortal was admitted into 
heaven; consequently, before the resurrection of 
Christ, the spirit of no mortal was invoked. At the 
close of his preface to the « Church Triumphant, the 
cardinal says, "The spirits of the patriarchs and 
prophets, before the coming of Christ, were for this 
reason not worshipped and invoked as we now worship 
and invoke the Apostles and Martyrs, because they 
were-yet shutup and detained in prisons below Again, 
he says, « Because before the coming of Christ the 
saints who died did not enter heaven, and saw not 
God, nor could ordinarily know the prayers of sup- 
pliants, therefore it was not customary m the UM 
Testament to say, 'Holy Abraham, pray for me, &c, 

but the men of that time prayed to God only, and 
alleged the merits of the saints who had already 
departed, that their own prayers might be aided by 



th— 5 " 



We'need not here dwell on the inconsistencies and 
perplexities involved in this assumed theory; far less 
need we inquire into the state of the souls of the 
faithful departed before our Lords advent. With 

of Christ, pleaded the merits of the Saints," is unfounded. 



Evidence of Old Testament against it. 15 

I St. Augustin 5 and other Christians, we are content to 
leave that subject where Scripture has left it. But 
1 surely before such an assumption can be expected to 
j obtain any acceptance among thinking men, the case 
j of Enoch requires to be well weighed, whose trans- 
lation from this life to heaven, making, as it has been 
beautifully expressed, but one step from earth to 
glory, the Epistle to the Hebrews cites with a 
most important comment : <£ Enoch walked with 
God; and he was not; for God took him 6 :" "By- 
faith Enoch was translated that he should not see 
death ; and was not found, because God had translated 
him : for before his translation he had this testimony, 
j that he pleased God V Surely, too, the case of 
1 Elijah must not be dismissed summarily, of whom the 
book of truth declares, " that the Lord took him in a 
| whirlwind into heaven ;" his ascent being made visible 
to mortal eyes, as was afterwards the ascension of our 
blessed Lord Himself. Surely, moreover, before such 
a theory as Bellarmin's can be received, the language 
of Holy Scripture must be w T ell examined, which 
positively declares, that before the resurrection of 
Christ, at his transfiguration, Moses and Elijah both 
in glory appeared visibly to his Apostles, and con- 
versed with Him on the holy mount. " And be- 
hold, there talked with him two men, which were 
Moses and Elias : who appeared in glory, and spake 
of his decease which he should accomplish at Je- 
rusalem 8 ." 

Whilst we need not dwell longer on this immediate 
point, two considerations seem to present themselves 
to our notice altogether decisive as to the evidence 
borne against the invocation of saints by the writings of 
the Old Testament. The first is this ; — if the spirits 
of the saints departed were not invoked before the 
resurrection of Christ, merely because they were not 
then admitted into heaven, why did not the faithful 

5 Aug. De Pecc. Orig. c. 23, toni. vii. p. 338. 

6 Gen. v. 24. * Heb. xi. 5. 8 Luke ix. 30, 31. 



16 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

and inspired servants of the Lord invoke the angels who 
were in heaven? The second is this, why did not the 
inspired Apostles and faithful servants of our Saviour 
invoke the spirits of those saints after his resurrec- 
tion, and when the Holy Spirit was present with them 
to guide them into all truth ; that is (according to the 
theory of Bellarmin, and those who put forth the same 
view), after those saints had been taken by Christ 
with Him into his Father's presence? We must not 
here anticipate our inquiry into the evidence borne 
bv the New Testament against the doctrine and 
practice of the Church of Rome in this point; and we 
will only add, that whatever be the cause ot the 
absence from the Old Testament of all worship and 
invocation of Abel and Abraham, whom the Roman 
Church now invokes, the alleged reason that it was 
because they were not in heaven till after Christ s 
resurrection, is utterly contradicted by the conduct ot 
his Apostles and disciples, recorded in the New .tes- 
tament, for more than half a century after his return 
to his glorv in heaven. This is, however, the proper 
place for entertaining the first of the two considera- 
tions suggested above,— why did not the holy men ot 
old under the elder covenant invoke the angels, as the 
Roman Church now does? 

The inspired writers of the Old Testament, and 
those to whom through their mouth and pen the 
Divine word was addressed, were as fully as ourselves 
acquainted with the existence of the angelic beings. 
They were aware of the station held by those angels 
in the court of heaven, of their power as God's ambas- 
sadors and agents for good. Either their own eyes 
had seen the operations of the Almighty by the hands 
of those celestial messengers, or their ears had_ heard 
their fathers tell what He had done by their instru- 
mentality in times of old. Why, then, did not the 
chosen people offer to the angels the same worship 
and invocation which the Church of Rome now 
addresses to them? In the condition of the holy 



Evidence of Old Testament against it. 17 



angels, no one ever suggests that any change affecting 
the argument has taken place since the time when 
I man was created. And as the angels in heaven were 
I in themselves the same, equally in the presence of 
; God, and equally able to succour men through that 
! long space of four thousand years which intervened 
between Adam's creation and the birth of Him who 
was Son of Adam and Son of God, so was man in the 
same dependent state, needing the guidance and pro- 
tection of a power above his own. Nay, surely, what- 
ever difference affecting the argument has arisen in 
j the state of man, it must all add weight to the reason 
against the invocation of angels by Christians. God's 
j people of old had no clear knowledge, as we have, of 
I one great Mediator who is ever making intercession 
for us; and yet they never sought the mediation, and 
intercession, and good offices of those superhuman 
beings, of whose existence, and power, and employ- 
ment in works of blessing to man, they had, however, 
no doubt. This is a point of much importance, and it 
i will be well to refer to a few passages in support of it. 
When David, who had himself 9 visible demonstra- 
tion of the existence and ministration of the angels, 
called upon them to unite with his own soul, and 
with the whole creation throughout the world, in 
praising their merciful, glorious, and omnipotent 
Creator, he thus conveys to us his own exalted ideas 
of their nature, their excellence, and their ministra- 
tion : " The Lord hath prepared his throne in the 
heavens ; and his kingdom ruleth over all. Bless the 
Lord, ye angels of his, that excel in strength, that do 
his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his 
word. Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts ; ye servants 
of his, that do his pleasure 1 ." David knew, moreover, 
that one of the offices, in the execution of which the 
angels do God's pleasure, consists in their succouring 
and defending us on earth. In a psalm, prophetic of 

9 1 Chron. xxi. 16. 1 Psalm ciii. 19—21. 



18 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

the Redeemer, the Psalmist says, « There shall no 
harm happen unto thee, nor shall any plague come 
nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge 
over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall 
bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot 
against a stone 2 ." And again, with exquisitely beauti- 
ful imagery, he represents those same blessed servants 
as a host of God's spiritual soldiers, keeping watch 
and ward over the noorest of the children of men who 
would take refuge in his mercy. " The angel of the 
Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and 
delivereth them 3 ." And yet David, the prophet of 
the Lord, never addresses to these beings, high, and 
glorious, and powerful as he acknowledges them to be, 
one single invocation; he neither asks them to assist 
him, nor to pray for him, nor to pray with him in his 
behalf. 

Isaiah was admitted by the Holy Spirit to witness 
in the fulness of its glory the court and the throne of 
heaven ; and he heard the voices of the seraphim pro- 
claiming their Maker's praise; he experienced also 
personally the effect of their ministration, when one 
of them said, "Lo, this hath touched thy lips; 
and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin 
purged 4 ." Still, though the prophet must have re- 
garded this angel as his benefactor under God, yet 
neither to this seraph, nor to any of the host of 
heaven, does he offer one prayer for their good 
offices, not even by their intercession. He ever 
ascribes all to God alone, and never joins any other 
name with his, either in supplication or in praise. ^ 

Daniel's case, too, bears immediately on the point 
before us. He acknowledges, not only that the 
Lord's omnipotent hand had rescued him from the 
jaws of the lions, but that the deliverance was broughl 
about by the ministration of an angel : " My Goc 
hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths 



2 Psalm xci. 10—12. 3 Psalm xxxiv. 7. 4 Isaiah vi. 7- 



Evidence of Old Testament against it. 19 

that they have not hurt me 5 ." Yet, throughout 
Daniel's prayers, we can find no allusion to any even 

I of the highest angels. He had seen Gabriel before 
his prayer, he had heard the voice and felt the hand 

i of that heavenly messenger who was commissioned to 
reveal to him what was to come; and immediately 
after the offering of his prayers, the same Gabriel 
announces himself as one come forth to give the 
prophet skill and understanding. And yet, neither 
to Gabriel nor to any other of the angels of God, does 
one word of invocation fall from the lips of Daniel. 

I In the supplications of that holy, intrepid, and blessed 

| servant and child of God, it is in vain to search for 
any thing approaching in speech to the invocation, 

\ " Holy Gabriel, pray for us ! " 

The other strange reason assigned for the people of 
God not having " suppliantly invoked " saints and an- 
gels in times of the Old Testament, to which we before 
adverted, is this, — in those times prayer was not of- 
fered to God through a mediator at all ; and as the one 

! Mediator was not then revealed in his person and 
his offices, the subsidiary intercessors, to whom the 
Church of Rome now prays, could not act, and there- 
fore could not be invoked by man. The answer to 
this suggestion is at once conclusive ; that Mediator has 
been revealed in his person and in his offices, and has 
been expressly declared to be " the one Mediator 
between God and man we therefore seek God's 
covenanted mercies through Him. Those subsidiary 
intercessors, as they are called, have never been 
revealed, and therefore we do not seek their aid. To 
assure us that our heavenly Father willed us to ap- 
proach Him by secondary and subsidiary mediators and 
intercessors, a revelation would have been required as 
clear and unquestionable as that which He has vouch- 
safed^ us of the mediation of his blessed Son. Had 



5 Dan. vi. 22. 



20 Invocation of Saints and Angels.' 

the will of God been that we should seek his mercy 
through the intercessions of saints, and martyrs, and 
angels, to be secured by our own prayers to them, 
is it conceivable that He would not have given us 
some intimation of his will in this respect ? If believers 
in the Gospel were expected to look to unnumbered 
mediators of intercession in heaven as well as the one 
Mediator of redemption (a distinction of which we ; 
find no trace in Holy Scripture), would not the Gos-, 
pel itself have announced it? Could such declarations, 
as these from the oracles of Divine Truth have been 
put on record without any qualifying or limiting ex- 
pressions? " He is able also to save to the uttermost 
them who come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth 
to make intercession for them." — " There is one God, 
and one Mediator between God and man, the man 
Christ Jesus." But this involves the question which , 
must next be discussed, what is the evidence of 
the New Testament on this point ? All we would 
anticipate here is, that if the irresistible argument 
from the Old Testament is met on the ground that 
no mediator at all was then revealed, we must require 
a distinct revelation of the existence and offices of 
other mediators and intercessors who are to be suppli- 
antly invoked by us, before we can^ be justified in 
applying to", them for their intervention with God in 
our behalf. The question, therefore, now is ; though 
no prayer to angel or beatified spirit occurs in the 
Old Testament from its first to its last page, nor any 
intimation of the office of such mediators, much less of 
our duty to invoke them, yet are such mediators re- 
vealed in the pages of the New Testament of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? 

It may however be wise first to advert, though briefly 6 , 
to those passages in the Old Testament to which some 



6 The reader will find this subject examined more fully in " Primi- 
tive Christian Worship," p. 38. 



Evidence of Old Testament against it 21 

] Roman Catholics appeal as countenancing religious 
1 adoration to angels. The two principal instances re- 
lied on are, first, Abraham bowing down before his 
J! heavenly visitants ; and secondly, the words of Jacob 
I when he gave his benediction to his grandsons. 
1 With regard to the first case, even did the words 
I imply religious adoration, it could not justify our 
\ paying religious adoration to angels ; because what- 
j ever it was, agreeably to the interpretation of the 
| best commentators both ancient and modern, the per- 
i son whom Abraham then addressed was no created 
being, neither angel nor seraph, but the Word, the 
I eternal Son of God, the Angel of the Covenant, Him- 
[ self God 7 . But the fact is, that no argument can be 
'drawn from this passage; for the word which the 
authorized Roman version translates " adoravit," and 
the Douay Bible renders "adored," is the same, letter 
for letter, with the word employed to signify Jacob's 
bowing down to his brother Esau ; and which means, 
as the English Bible has it, " bowed down toward the 
! ground 8 ." 

In the other passage the very words of Jacob prove 
that when he expressed his desire that the angel, 
" which had redeemed him from all evil, would bless the 
lads," that Being was no other than the same Angel of 
the Covenant, God revealing Himself to mortal eyes. 
And this, too, is the interpretation put upon the 
passage by the early fathers. Among others, Eusebius 
and Athanasius declare the person spoken of by Jacob 
to be God the Son. " And he blessed Joseph, and 
said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac 
did walk, the God who fed me all my life long unto 
this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, 
bless the lads." — " And the angel of God spake .... I 

7 Among others, see Justin Martyr, Dial, cum Trypb. c. 56. See also 
for the next instance, Athanasius, Paris, 1698, vol. i. p. 561 ; Euseb. 
Demonst. Evan. v. 10. 
| 8 Gen. xviii. 2 ; xxxiii. 1 — 3. 

r 
i 



I 



22 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

am the God of Beth-el, where thou vowedst a vow 
unto me 9 ." 

We must now examine the evidence borne by the 
books of the New Testament on our present subject. 

9 Gen. xlviii. 15, 16; xxxi. 11. 13. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



No. V. 



ON THE 

INVOCATION OF SAINTS AND 
ANGELS. 



EVIDENCE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 
AGAINST IT. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evidence of the New 
Testament against it 

Though the testimony borne by the Old Testament 
against the invocation of saints and angels is, as we 
have seen, strong and irresistible, yet it has been said 
that we are living under another dispensation ; that 
to us as Christians, neither the precepts nor the ex- 
amples of the patriarchal and Mosaic times are appli- 
cable ; and that consequently the injunctions from 
heaven, given of old to preserve the chosen people 
from pagan idolatry, do not prohibit us, under the 
Gospel, from seeking the aid of those departed saints 
who are now reigning with Christ. But surely to 
those whose heart's desire is to fulfil the will of God in 
all things, those commands and examples are still most 
strictly applicable, as conveying a knowledge of the 
will of our heavenly Father, that his sons and daugh- 
ters on earth should associate no name, however ex- 
alted, with his own holy name, in prayer and spiritual 
invocation. To those who can be content to depart 
from that will, whenever they can devise plausible ar- 
guments and refined distinctions to countenance such 
departure, we are not here addressing ourselves. 
Before, then, it can be safely concluded that Chris- 
[654] i> 



26 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

tians have a liberty, denied to believers under the 
former dispensations, of addressing prayers to saints 
and ano-els for their aid and intercession, surely an 
authoritative declaration to that effect from the ^divine 
Lord of all our dispensations must be produced, clear 
and unequivocal. But from the very first to the very . 
last word of the New Testament, we nnd the doc- 
trines, the precepts, and the examples, the pervading 
and reigning spirit of the entire volume, combining with 
voices loud and clear, to impress upon us this principle 
of devotion,-' Pray to God Almighty only, and 
prav only in the name and for the sake of his blessed ! 
Son, Jesus Christ, our only Mediator in heaven: 
offer no prayer, no supplication, no entreaty, to any 
other beino- in the unseen world, neither saint nor i 
angel, though it be only to ask for their intercession 
with the Great God.' This, however, involves the 
whole question, and must be fairly and thoroughly 

"^Lwt us then review the entire volume with close 
and minute scrutiny, and ask ourselves, Is there 
a single passage which directly sanctions any religious 
invocation to any being except God alone' And 
then let us resolve this point: In a matter of so vital 
importance, of so immense interest, and of so sacred 
a character as the worship of the Supreme Being, 
who declares Himself to be a jealous God, ought we 
to suffer any refinements of casuistry to entice us from 
the clear light of revelation? If it were Gods 
good pleasure to make exceptions to his rule— a rule 
so repeatedly and so imperatively enacted and en- 
forced-surely our knowledge of his gracious dealings 
with mankind, would have taught us to look for an 
announcement of the exception by an inspired tongue 
or pen, in terms equally forcible and explicit Instead 
of this, we find no single act, no single word, nothing 
which even by implication can be forced to sanction 
any praver or religious invocation, of whatever kind, 
to any 'being, save to Himself alone; the God who 



Evidence of the New Testament against it. 27 

heareth prayer, and who lias revealed to us his only 
Son, as the one Mediator between God and man. 

In this inquiry we must first look to the language 
and conduct of our blessed Lord Himself, whose 
prayers to his Father are upon record for our instruc- 
tion and comfort, and whose precepts and example 
form the best rule of a Christian's life. So far from 
repealing the ancient law, he repeats in his own 
person its solemn announcement, " Hear, O Israel ; 
the Lord our God is one Lord 1 f and commands us 
with authority, " When thou prayest, pray to thy 
Father which is in secret ; and thy Father who seeth 
in secret himself shall reward thee openly V Un- 
doubtedly our Lord is here cautioning his followers 
against engaging in religious acts for the purposes of 
the hypocrite; but neither here nor elsewhere is there 
any allusion in a single word of his to prayer from 
a mortal on this earth to an angel or saint in heaven. 
And yet occasions were multiplied, on which some 
reference to the invocation of angels, and their inter- 
cession, would have been natural, and apparently 
called for, had his will been that his disciples should 
unite such an invocation with their prayers to his Father, 
and such an intercession, as auxiliary to his own. 

Again and again He places beyond all doubt the 
reality of the existence of angels, and of their good 
offices in behalf of mankind ; but it is as they are 
God's servants, and act at God's bidding, not in 
answer to any supplication of ours. The parable of 
the rich man and Lazarus has been appealed to for 
opposite testimony 3 ; but the parable is not in point ; 
and were it in point, it might be fairly and strongly 
urged against our invoking the spirit of any departed 
mortal, even the Father of the faithful himself. What 
are the circumstances of the parable 4 ? A lost soul, 
in the regions of torment, prays to Abraham in the 
regions of the blessed, and the spirit of the deceased 

1 Mark xii. 29. 2 Matt. vi. 6. 

3 Bellarmin, vol. ii. p. 895. 4 Luke xvi. 19. 

B 2 



28 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

and blessed Patriarch professes to have no power 
to o-rant the request of the deceased and condemned 
spirit. The practice, indeed, of our Roman Catholic 
brethren would have been exemplified here, had our 
Lord represented the rich man's five brethren still on 
earth as pious men, supplicating Abraham in heaven ] 
to pray for themselves, or for the mitigation ot their 
lost brother's punishment and his woes. But then 
the case would have afforded Christians little encou- 
ragement to follow such an example, when they found 
Abraham declaring himself unable to aid them m i 
attaining the object of their prayer, or in any way to 
assist them. Without one single exception, we find 
our Saviour's example, precepts, and doctrines 5 , to be 
decidedly against the practice of invoking saint or 
angel; while not one solitary act or word of his can 
be cited to countenance or palliate it. 

It follows next that we inquire into the writings ot 
Christ's Apostles and immediate followers, to whom He 
Graciously promised that the Holy Spirit should guide 
them into all truth. In the Acts of the Apostles various 
instances of prayer attract our notice, but not one 
ejaculation is found there to any other being save 
God alone. Neither angel nor saint is invoked. I tie 
Apostles prayed for guidance in the government ot 
Christ's infant Church, but it was thus : "Thou, Lord, 
who knowest the hearts of all men 9 :" they prayed 
for their own acceptance with God, but it was « Lord 
Jesus, receive my spirit V They prayed for each other, 
as in behalf of St. Peter in prison; but we are ex- 
pressly told, that the prayer which was made without 
ceasing by the Church for him was addressed to 

God 8 . , . , 

To deliver St. Peter from his chains an angel was 
sent on an especial mission from heaven; but though 
St. Peter saw him, and heard his voice, and followed 
him, and knew of a surety that the Lord had employed 

s See especially St. John xiv. 14; ;.xv.l6; xvi. 23, 24. 

« Acts i. 24. 7 Ibid. vii. 59. ' Itat mS. 



Evidence of the New Testament against it. 29 

the ministration of an angel to liberate him from his 
bonds, yet we do not hear of Peter afterwards praying 
1 to angels to secure their good offices and their inter- 
cession with God: nor has he once intimated to others 
that such applications would avail, or were allowable. 
! He exhorts his fellow-Christians to pray, "Watch unto 
! prayer f but it is because " the eyes of the Lord are 
! over the righteous, and his ears are open to their 
! prayers V He himself prays for them, but it is that 
| the God of all grace might make them perfect, 
stablish, strengthen, settle them. He suggests no 
invocation of saint or angel to intercede with God for 
them. He bids them cast all their care upon God 5 
in the assurance that God himself careth for them. 

St. Paul also experienced in his own person the 
comfort of an angel's ministration, bidding him cast 
off all fear when in the extreme of imminent peril 10 : 
but with him God, and God alone, is the object^ of 
prayer throughout; by him no saint or angel is alluded 
to as one whose intercession might be sought by himself 
! or by us. He speaks in glowing language of patriarchs, 
prophets, and angels; but unto none of these would 
he turn in prayer. " Be careful for nothing, but in 
every thing by prayer and supplication, with thanks- 
giving, let your requests be made known unto God 1 ." 
And can any one receive, in the plain meaning of his 
words, the solemn caution which he gives to the Colos- 
si an s on the subject of worship, and think that St. Paul 
could have uttered these words without any excep- 
tion or qualifying expression, if he had worshipped 
angels himself by invocation, merely asking them for 
their prayers, or had meant us to do so? "Let no 
one beguile you of your reward in a voluntary 
humility and worshipping of angels, not holding the 
head 2 ;" which "Head" he had before declared^ to 
be the Son of God, in whom we have redemption 
through his blood, " even the forgiveness of our sins." 

9 1 Pet. iv. 7 ; iii. 12. 10 Acts xxvii. 23. 

1 Phil. iv. 6. 2 Col. ii. 18. 

i 33 3 



30 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

It has been said that St. Paul does not here prohibit 
all worship of angels, but only such worship as would 
cause those who offered it to desert the worship of 
God :— but had that been his meaning, would not the 
Apostle have told us so ? 

In the Epistle to the Hebrews the inspired pen- 
man brings before our minds with most fervent up- 
lifting eloquence, together with Abel, and Abraham, 
and David, that goodly fellowship of the prophets, 
that holy army of martyrs whose names were written 
in the book of life : he speaks as though he were an 
eye-witness of what he describes, of the general as- 
sembly of the Church of the first-born s . Had the 
thought of seeking by invocation the support or inter- 
cession of saint or angel been familiar to him,— had the 
thought ever been entertained favourably in his mind, 
could he have allowed such an occasion to pass by 
without even alluding to any benefit that might result 
from our invoking such friends of God? But so far is he 
from any such allusion, that the utmost he says at the 
close of his eulogy is this : " These all, having obtained 
a good report through faith, received not the promise : 
God having provided some better thing for us, that 
they without us should not be made perfect V 

The beloved Apostle, who could look forward in 
full assurance of faith to the day of Christ's second 
coming, and who knew that " when he shall appear 
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is," 
has left us this record of his sentiments concerning 
prayer: "This is the confidence that we have in Him, 
that if we ask any thing according to his will he 
heareth us 5 ." St. John alludes to no intercessor, to no 
advocate, save only " that advocate with the Father, 
Jesus Christ the righteous, who is also the propitiation 
for our sins 6 " St. John never suggests to us the 
advocacy or intercession of saint or angel ; with him 
God in Christ is all in all. 

The case of St. James, equally to the point, and 
strongly illustrative of the truth, is the last to which 
s Col. i. 18. 4 Heb. xi. 39, 40. * 1 John v. 14. G 1 John ii. 1,2. 



Evidence of the New Testament against it. 31 

we will now refer. He is anxious to impress on his 
fellow-Christians the efficacy of our intercessions* 
"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man 
availeth much 7 ." He instances its power with God in 
the case of Elijah, a man so holy that the Almighty 
suffered him not to pass through the regions of death 
and the grave, but translated him at once from this life to 
glory. " Elias was a man subject to like passions as we 
are, and he prayed that it might not rain ; and it rained 
not on the earth for the space of three years and six 
months; and he prayed again, and the heaven gave 
rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." And yet 
St. James is very far from suggesting the efficacy or 
lawfulness of any invocation to the hallowed spirit of 
this man, whose prayer had been permitted to in- 
fluence the elements and natural powers of the sky and 
the earth. He exhorts all men to pray, but it must be 
to God alone, and directly to God, without applying for 
the intervention of any mediators or intercessors from 
among angels or men : " If any of you lack wisdom, 
let him ask of God, who giveth liberally to all men, 
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But 
let him ask in faith, nothing wavering 8 ." Like the 
writer to the Hebrews, he would have us come our- 
selves "boldly" and directly " to the throne of grace, 
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in 
time of need." 

Surely these Apostles, chosen heralds for conveying 
the truths of salvation throughout the world, knew 
well how the Almighty could best be approached by 
his children on earth ; and had the invocation of saint 
or angel found a place in their creed, they would not 
have kept back so important an article of faith and 
practice from us. 

Before leaving this part of our inquiry, it is neces- 
sary to weigh the import of two passages in the New 
Testament, often quoted on our present subject, one in 



7 James v. 16. 



James i. 5, 6\ 



32 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

the Acts of the Apostles, the other in the Apoca- 

lyP The holy Apostles, Barnabas and Paul, by a striking 
miracle had excited feelings of religious reverence and 
devotion among the people of Lystra who p , spared 
to offer sacrifice to them as two of their fabled deities . 
The indignant zeal with which these two ministers of 
the word rushed forward to prevent such an act o 
impiety, however admirable and affecting, does not 
constitute the chief reason for which reference is here 
made to this incident. They were, undoubtedly, 
still clothed with mortal flesh, and the weakness o, 
human nature; and the priest and the people were 
ready to offer to them the wonted victims, the abomi- 
nation of the heathen. Equally clear is the wide 
difference, in many particulars, between such an act 
and the act of a Christian praying to their spirits^ after 
their departure hence, and supplicating them to inter-. 
cede with the true God in their behalf; and on this 
difference Roman Catholic writers have held the in- 
applicability of this incident to the present question 
But, surely, if any such prayer to departed saints, as 
the Roman Church now offers, had been familiar to 
the minds of those Apostles, instead of repelling the 
religious address of the inhabitants of Lystra at once 
and for ever, they would have altered the tone of their 
remonstrance; and not have * suppress ed the truth, 
when so good an opportunity offered i self for impart- 
ing it. And, supposing it was part of their commission 
to g announce and explain the invocation of saints 
at all, as a doctrine of the Gospel, on what occasion 
could an announcement of what would be a just and 
authorized and beneficial invocation of angels and 
saints departed, have been more appropna e » in . the 
Apostles than when they were denouncing the unjus- 
tifiable offering of sacrifices to themselves when living ' 
But whether the more appropriate place for such an 
announcement were at Lystra, at Corinth, at Athens, 



9 Acts xiv. 11. 



Evidence of the New Testament against it. 33 

or at Rome, it matters not; nor whether the doctrine 
would have been more advantageously communicated 
by their oral teaching, or in their epistles. If 
the Apostles by their example, or instruction, had 
sanctioned the invocation of saints and angels, it would 
have inevitably appeared in some page or other of the 
New Testament, in the course of the fifty years and 
more, between the resurrection of Christ and the 
date of the last Canonical Scripture. Instead of this, 
the whole tenour of the Holy Volume is in perfect 
accordance with the spirit of the apostolical remon- 
strance at Lystra, to the fullest and utmost extent of its 
meaning, " We preach unto you, that ye should turn 
from these vanities to serve the living God." 

On the weight and cogency of the other instance, also, 
it well becomes every Christian to ponder carefully and 
honestly. St. John, the beloved disciple of our Lord, 
when admitted to view with his own eyes, and to hear 
with his mortal ears the things of heaven, rapt in 
amazement and awe, fell down to worship before the 
feet of the angel who showed him these things \ If the 
adoration were ever justifiable, surely it was then ; and 
what a testimony to the end of the world would have 
been put upon record, had the adoration of an angel 
by the blessed John at such a moment, when he 
had the mysteries and the glories of heaven before 
him, been received and sanctioned ! But what is the 
fact? "Then said he, See thou do it not; I am thy 
fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, 
and of them who keep the sayings of this book: 
worship God." It is difficult to understand, it is im- 
possible to admit, the refinement by which the con- 
clusiveness of this direct refusal of all religious 
adoration and worship is attempted to be set aside. 
Uttered without any qualification, at such a time, by 
such a being, to such a man, these words are conclu- 
sive beyond gainsaying to those who resolve to follow 



1 Rev. xxii. 8. 



34 



Invocation of Saints and Angels. 



Scripture, and not to bend Scripture to their own 
theories. The interpretations put upon this passage, 
and the inference drawn from them by a series of our 
most trustworthy guides, with St. Athanasius at their 
head, present to our minds so entirely the plain, 
straightforward, honest, and common-sense view of 
the case, that all the subtilty of casuists, and all the 
ingenuity of modern refinements, will never be able 
to establish any other in its stead. " The angel (for 
such are the words of that ancient defender of the 
true faith) in the Apocalypse forbids John, when de- 
siring to worship him, saying, 6 See thou do it not ; 
I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the pro- 
phets, and of them who keep the sayings of this book : 
worship God.' Therefore to be the object of wor- 
ship belongs to God only; and this even the angels 
know : they, though they surpass others in glory, yet 
are all creatures, and are not among objects of wor- 
ship, but among those who worship the sovereign 
Lord 2 ." 

To say, as some have said, that St. John was too 
fully illuminated by the Holy Spirit to do what was 
in itself wrong, especially a second time, is as un- 
tenable as it would be to maintain that St. Peter, 
whom the Saviour had pronounced blessed, could not, 
especially thrice, have done wrong when he denied 
our Lord. St. John did wrong by worshipping the 
angel, or the angel would not have chided and warned 
him. And to say that the angel here forbade^ John 
personally to worship him, because John was himself 
a fellow-servant and one of the prophets, and thus 
that the prohibition only tended to exalt the prophetic 
character, and not to condemn in others, not prophets, 
the worship of angels, is proved by the angel's own 
words to be a groundless assumption, who reckons 
himself a fellow-servant not with prophets only and 
St. John, but with all those also who keep the words 



2 Athanasius, Orat. 2 Cont. Ar. vol. i. p. 491. 



Evidence of the Neio Testament against it. 35 

of the book of God; thus equally forbidding- every 
faithful Christian to worship his fellow-servants, the 
angels. These are not far from the last words in the 
volume of inspired truth, and together with those last 
words themselves, they seem to us, as with "the voice of 
a great multitude, and of many waters, and of mighty 
thunderings," from the very throne itself of the Most 
High to proclaim to every inhabiter of the earth, 
6 Fall down before no created being in religious 
worship of any kind ; invoke, call upon, pray to no 
created being, whether saint or angel : worship and 
adore God only : pray only to God. Trust to his 
mercy; seek no other mediator or intercessor in the 
unseen world, save only his own blessed Son.' " Be- 
hold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to 
give every man according as his work shall be. I am 
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the 
first and the last. I Jesus have sent mine angel to 
testify unto you these things in the Churches. He 
which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come 
quickly; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you alL 
Amen." 

Thus the New Testament, the Gospel covenant, 
that gracious dispensation under which we live, so 
far from relaxing the strictness of the law of the Old 
Testament, in respect to the subject before us, 
so far from countenancing any departure from 
the obligation of that code which limits prayers 
and all religious worship to God only, so far from 
suggesting the distinction of worship invented com- 
paratively of late years into three kinds, one for God, 
another for the Virgin, a third for saints and angels ; 
so far from sanctioning, even by a shadow, invocation 
to sainted men and to angels as intercessors for us 
with the eternal Giver of all good — so far from this, 
the Gospel renews and repeats the commands given of 
old, and declares also, that our invocation, in order 
to be Christian, must be addressed to God alone ; and 



36 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

that there is one, and only one, Mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who is at the 
right Jiand of his Father, a merciful High Priest, 
sympathizing with us in our infirmities, ever making 
intercession for us, and able to save to the uttermost 
those who come unto God through Him. 



THE END. 



Gilbert & Riyington, Printers, St. John's Square, London, 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



Nos. VI. & VII. 



ON THE 

INVOCATION OF SAINTS AND 
ANGELS. 

j VI. EVIDENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 
AGAINST IT. 

VII. EVIDENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 
AGAINST IT. — Continued. 




LONDON: 

Printed for the 

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 
SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, 
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE J 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 

' [656] 1846. 

m 



1 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts are the first "of a series intended to be | 
issued, on some of the ehief and most prevalent errors : o the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published 

I. On the Supremacy or the Pope. 

II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 
III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

IV On the Invocation op Saints and Angels. -Evi- 
dence of the Old Testament against it. 

V On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. -Evi- 

DENCE OF THE NeW TESTAMENT AGAINST IT. 

VI On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. -Evi- 

DENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AGAINST IT. 

VII On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.- Evi- 

' DENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AGAINST IT- 

[continued]. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evidence of the 
Primitive Church against it. 

On the subject of the worship in the Church of Rome 
of saints and angels, we are induced to examine into 
the evidence of Christian antiquity, not by any mis- 
giving lest the testimony of the Holy Scriptures 
might appear defective or doubtful; far less by the 
unworthy notion that God's word needs the support 
of the suffrages of man. On the contrary, the 
voice of God in his revealed word is clear, certain, 
and indisputable, commanding the invocation of 
Himself alone in acts of religious worship, and con- 
demning any such departure from that singleness 
of adoration, as now distinguishes the Church of 
Rome, in her worship of saints and angels, from our 
own communion. It is a fixed principle in our creed, 
that whenever God's word is clear and certain, human 
evidence cannot be weighed against it in "the balance 
of the sanctuary." When the Lord hath spoken, well 
does it become the whole earth to be silent before 
Him. But when Scripture is silent, or where its 
meaning is doubtful, the testimony of the early Church 
offers itself to us as a guide to be followed with 
watchful care and due reverence. 

Now for the present let it be supposed, that instead 
of the oracles of God having spoken, as we know 

a 2 



4 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

them to have spoken, with a voice clear, strong, and 
uniform, against the invocation of saints and I angels, 
?he r vo ce g had been donbtful; suppose in tins case 
the question had been left open in Scripture, and we 
were 1 therefore the more anxious to ascertain the fenh 
and practice of the primitive Church, then what 
evidence should we be able to draw from the remains of 
the "arliest ages? What testimony do the writers 
who folded next, after the canon of Scripture was 
closed? bear upon this point? To what conclusion 
would a full and candid inquiry into the real spirit of 
Jhose authors lead us in answer to this question- 
Whether we of the Church of England by scrupu- 
lously abstaining from offering, in thought or word, 
any prayer, or supplication, entreaty, request or 
invocation whatever, to any spiritual being except 
God, are treading in the steps of the first Chris- 
tians adhering to the very pattern they set, or not . 
Z whether members of "the Church of Rome by 
addressing angels or saints in any form of evocation, 
seeking aid from them by theirintercession or otherwise, 
have of have not swerved decided y and far from those 
same footsteps and departed widely from that pat- 

tG An examination, then, of the passages collected by 
the most celebrated Roman Catholic writers, and a 
searching scrutinv into the undisputed original works 
- of primitive writers of the Greek and Latin Churches, 
seem to force upon us two conclusions:— 

First, negatively, that the Christian writers through 
the first three centuries and more, never refer to the 
invocation of saints and angels as a practice with 
which they were familiar, or which they had adopted 
. for themselves ; that they have not recorded or alluded 
to any forms of invocation of that kind, as used by 
• themselves or by the Church in their days; and that 
no services of the earliest times contain hymns, lita- 
nies, or collects to angels, or to the spirits of the 
faithful departed. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 5 

j In the second place, positively, that the principles 
which these early Christians habitually maintain, are 
| irreconcilable with such a practice. In tracing (as 
the original documents supply us with suggestions) 
| the worship of saints and angels, we proceed one step 
after another, from the earliest practice of the Church 
| — the practice of addressing prayers to Almighty God 
alone, for the sake and through the merits of his 
blessed Son, the only Mediator between God and 
man — to the lamentable innovation, both of praying 
j to God through the mediation of departed mortals, 
I and of invoking those mortals themselves, as the actual 
S dispensers of the blessings sought. It is indeed pain- 
j fully interesting to trace the several steps, one after 
j another, beginning with the sound doctrine maintained 
by various early writers, that the souls of the saints are 
not yet reigning with Christ in heaven, and ending 
with the anathema of the Council of Trent against all 
who maintained that doctrine ; beginning with prayer 
I and thanksgiving to Almighty God alone, and ending 
| with daily prayers both to saints and angels; one 
deviation from the strict line of religious duty, and 
the pure singleness of Christian worship successively 
gliding into another, till at length, with a few notable 
exceptions, the whole of Christendom was seen to 
acquiesce in public and private devotions, which in 
earlier and better times, had they been proposed, the 
whole of Christendom would at once with unanimity 
have rejected. 

The places and occasions most favourable for 
witnessing and estimating the gradual innovations in 
the worship of the early times of Christianity, are the 
tombs of the martyrs, and the churches where their 
remains were deposited ; at the periods of the annual 
celebration of their martyrdom, or, in some instances of 
what was called, their translation, that is, the removal 
of their mortal remains from their former resting-place 
| to a new spot, generally dedicated to their memory. 

On these occasions an almost incredible enthusiasm 
! a 3 



6 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

reigned ; sometimes, as St. Chrysostom 1 tells us, the j) 
ardour of the worshippers being little removed from 
madness. But even at times of less excitement, by 
contemplating the acts and sufferings of a beloved 
and admired martyr, immediately after his death, 
recalling his looks, and words, and stedfastness; and 
exhorting each other to picture to themselves Ins holy 
countenance then fixed on them, his tongue addressing 
them, his sufferings still fresh before them, encou- 
raging all to follow his example, they^were led to 
consider him as actually himself one of the faithful 
assembled round his tomb. Hence they cherished 
first the hope, then the belief, that he was praying with 
them, as well as for them; that he heard their eulogy 
on his Christian excellence; and took pleasure^ the 
honours paid to his memory r. hence they inferred, 
together with his good-will towards them, his ability 
also, as though he were still on earth, to promote their 
welfare : hence they proceeded by a fatal step, first to 
implore him to procure them bodily relief from their 
present sufferings; next they invoked him to plead 
their cause with God, and to intercede for the supply 
of their spiritual wants, and the ultimate salvation ot 
their souls; and lastly, they prayed to him directly 
as himself the dispenser of temporal and spiritual 

blessings • 

The following then is the order in which the inno- 
vations in Christian worship seem to have taken place, 
being chiefly introduced at the annual celebration ot 

martyrdoms. . , 

1st. In the first ages confession, and prayer, and 
praise were offered to the Supreme Being alone, and 
for the sake of his Son our only Saviour and 
Advocate; when mention was made ot saints or 
martyrs, it was to thank God for the graces bestowed 
on his faithful ones when on earth, and to pray to 
God for grace to follow their good examples, and 
attain through Christ to the same end and crown ot a 

> St. Chrys. Paris, 1718, vol. vii. p. 330. 



Evidence of: the Primitive Church against it. 7 

Christian's earthly struggles. This act of worship 
was usually accompanied by a homily, setting forth 
the Christian excellence of the saint, and encouraging 
the survivors so to follow him as he followed Christ. 

| 2nd. The second stage appears to have been a 
prayer to Almighty God, that He would suffer the 
supplications and intercessions of angels and saints, 
(their embassies, as they were called) to prevail with 
Him and bring down a blessing on their fellow peti- 
tioners on earth ; the idea having spread among 

i enthusiastic worshippers, that the spirits of the saints 
were suffered to be present at their tombs, and to join 
with the faithful in their addresses to the throne of 

; grace. 

3rd. The third grade appears to have owed its 
origin to the practice of orators dwelling continually 
on the excellencies and glories of the saints— in the 
panegyrics delivered over their remains — representing 
their constancy and Christian virtues as super-human 

i and divine, and as having conferred lasting benefits 
on the Church. By these benefits at first were meant 
the comfort and encouragement of their good example, 
and the honour flowing to the religion of the cross 
from the testimony they had borne to its truth even 
unto death; but in process of time, the habit grew 
of attaching a sort of mysterious efficacy to their 
merits; hence sprang this third gradation in religious 
worship, prayers to the Almighty, that "He would 
hear his suppliants, and grant their requests for the 
sake of his martyred servant, and by the efficacy of 
that martyr's merit." 

4th. Hitherto, unauthorized and objectionable as 
are the two last forms of prayer, still the petitions in 
each case were directed to God alone. The next 
step swerved lamentably from that principle of wor- 
ship, and the petitioners were led to address their 
requests to angels and sainted men in heaven, at 

I first, however, confining their petitions to the asking 

1 for their prayers and intercessions with Almighty God. 

! A 4 



8 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

5th. The last stage in this progressive degeneracy 
of Christian worship was to petition the saints and 
angels directly and immediately themselves, at first 
for the temporal, and afterwards for the spiritual 
benefits which the petitioners desired to obtain from 
heaven. For it is not less evident than curious, that 
the worshippers seem for some time to have petitioned 
the saints for temporal and bodily benefits, before 
they proceeded to ask for spiritual blessings at their 
hands, or through their intercessions 2 . 

Of these several gradations and stages, we find traces 
in the records of Christian antiquity less and less faint, 
as superstitions and the corruptions of apostolic doc- 
trine spread wider, and leavened more of Christian wor- 
ship Of all of them we have lamentable instances m 
the ritual of the Romish Church. But, as we now 
proceed to show, it was not so from the beginning. 
In the earliest ages we find only the first of these 
forms of worship exemplified, and it is the only torm 
retained in our English ritual, of which the prayer 
for Christ's Church militant here on earth furnishes a 
beautiful specimen : « We bless thy holy name tor all 
thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear, 
beseeching thee to give us grace so to follow their 
good examples, that with them we may be partakers 
of thy heavenly kingdom: Grant this, O Father, for 
Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. 

A Sore we refer in detail to some of the invaluable 
remains of Christian antiquity, in proof of our views, 
three observations may be premised. 

1st. We do so, not for the purpose of attesting the 
exact accuracy of the above representation as to the 
various stages of the worship of saints and angels m 
Ihe order of time (the soundness of our argument 
not depending upon that accuracy), but to be enab led 
to answer satisfactorily this question, Whether e 
invocation of saints and angels prevailed from the 
2 See Basil. Orat. in Mamanta Martyrem. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 9 

first in the Christian Church, or whether it was an 
innovation introduced after pagan superstition, in the 
worship of its many inferior divinities, had begun 
to mingle its poisonous corruptions with the pure 
worship of Almighty God ? 

2nd. The field of Christian antiquity is too wide 
to be even cursorily examined here, and we must 
refer the reader who desires to verify any of our 
statements, or scrutinize fully and minutely any of 
our arguments on points of much research, to the 
work lately taken upon the Catalogue of the Society 
for Promoting Christian Knowledge, to which refer- 
ence has been already made, entitled, "Primitive 
Christian Worship." But a brief outline of the 
evidence, and specimens of the conclusive testimonies 
of primitive writers at different periods cannot be 
otherwise than satisfactory to those who desire to 
make themselves generally acquainted with the nature 
of the argument. 

3rd. We conceive that few persons will be disposed 
to doubt, that if the primitive believers were taught 
by the Apostles to address the saints in heaven and 
the holy angels with adoration and prayers, the 
earliest Christian records must have contained clear 
and indisputable references to the fact, and that 
undesigned allusions to the custom would inevitably 
have presented themselves to our notice here and there. 
Not that we could expect to meet with full statements 
of the doctrine or practice of the primitive Church in 
this particular, far less such elaborate apologies for the- 
practice as abound in later times. But what is more 
satisfactory in proof of the general prevalence of any- 
custom, expressions would incidentally occur imply- 
ing habitual familiarity with such worship. For ex- 
ample, in the remains of Christian antiquity, from the 
very earliest of all, such expressions are constantly 
meeting us (even when the writer is engaged on some 
other and different topic), as imply the doctrines of the 
ever blessed Trinity, the atoning sacrifice of Christ, 
the influences of the Holy Spirit; habitual prayer and 

a 5 



10 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

praise offered to the Saviour, as very and eternal God; 
theobservance of the holy sacraments of baptism and the 
Lord's supper, with other tenets and practices of the 
Apostolic Church. It is impossible to study the remains 
of Christian antiquity without being assured beyond 
the reach of doubt, that such doctrines and practices 
prevailed in the universal Church from the days of 
the Apostles. Can the invocation of saints and angels 
and the blessed Virgin be made an exception to this 
rule ? And can it stand this test ? Had it prevailed, 
is it not beyond gainsaying that we must have found 
traces of it in the earliest works of primitive an- 
tiquity, especially in the forms of prayer and exhorta- 
tions to prayer with which those works abound ? Can 
such traces be found ? 

Century I. The Apostolic Fathers. 

The books called the works of the Apostolic Fathers 
are full, and copious, and explicit, and cogent on the 
nature and duty of prayer and supplications, as wed 
for public as for private blessings, and of intercession 
by one Christian for another, and for the whole <r ace of 
mankind, no less than of petitions for mercy on himself; 
and vet, though openings of every kind offered them- 
selves for a natural introduction of the subject^ there is 
in no one single instance any reference or allusion to 
the invocation of saints or angels as a practice ei ther 
approved or even known in those times. With the 
different opinions as to the exact time when these 
writings first appeared, and with the genuineness of 
aft or any of them, though interesting questions m 
themselvei we have nothing, to do in tto aigomffl . 
They were certainly all in existence before the Council 
of Nice, a.d. 325, and their testimony is not aflected by 
the exactness of the date assigned to them. Not only, 
however, is the absence of all allusion to prayers offered 
to saints and angels decisive of the question, in point 
of negative evidence, but various passages occur whictt 

» The references are made to the edition published at Antwerp, 1698. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 11 

I supply positive testimony on the subjecto The nature 
of the present work does not admit of many quota- 
! tionsj or long discussions, and throughout this re- 
ference to the testimony of ancient writers we will 
endeavour to be as brief as may be consistent with 
the desire of enabling the reader to form a fair esti- 
mate of the evidence. 
| 1. The Epistle of St. Barnabas gives directions 
j on the subject of prayer, but it is prayer to God only. 

He speaks of angels, but not as beings who were to 
j be invoked by us. The saints of whom he speaks are not 
J souls in heaven to be petitioned by us on earth, but 
ij Christians on earth whom a true Christian is bound 
j to search out, and comfort, and; assist on their way to 
heaven. 

" There are two ways of doctrine and authority, 
one of light, the other of darkness. Over the one are 
appointed angels of God, conductors of the light ; 
over the other, angels of Satan. . . . Thou shalt love 
Him that made thee ; thou shalt glorify Him that 
| saved thee from death. . . . Thou shalt love as the 
I apple of thine eye one who speaketh to thee the 
word of the Lord. Call to remembrance the day of 
judgment night and day. Every day thou shalt 
search out the persons of the saints. ... proceeding 
to exhortation, and anxiously caring to save a soul by 
the word; ... Thou shalt not come with a bad con- 
science to thy prayer. The Lord of glory and all 
grace be with your spirit. Amen." 

2. The Shepherd of Hermas 4 .; — "Let us then 
I remove from us double-heartedness, and fainthearted- 
ness, and never at all doubt of supplicating any thing 
from God, or say within ourselves, How can I who 
have been guilty of so many sins against Him ask of 
the Lord and receive? But with thine whole heart 
turn to the Lord, and ask of Him without doubting ; 
and thou shalt know his great mercy, that He will 

I * The passage, of which we can here give but a brief extract, will 
j be found in Primitive Worship, p. 77? and is full of sound, and pious, and 
I comfortable sentiments. 



12 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

not forsake thee, but will fulfil the desire of thy 

S ° Speaking of the angels, the writer says, « These 
are all to be reverenced for their dignity. By these 
as it were by a wall, the Lord is girded round. But 
Se gate islhe Son of God, who is the only way to 
Godl for no one shall enter into God except by his 
Son " 

3. Clement, Bishop of Rome, has left us an 
epistle, which no one can read without agreeing with 
SU that it is « very admirable." Clement speaks 
of angels, and of the holy men of old who pleased 
God, and were blessed, and were taken ^ to the r 
reward. He urges to prayer-he specifies the objects 
and the subjects of our prayer-he speaks of the 
saints, and of our remembering them with compassion 
for our own good-(just as St John says, Let him 
who loveth God love his brother also; and as St. 
Paul speaks of our ministering to the necessities of 
the saints) -he invites us to contemp ate with re- 
verence Abraham and the other faithful ones but i 
is only to imitate their good examples-he bids us 
think of St. Paul and St. Peter, but it is to listen to 
their godly admonitions. Throughout there is not 
the mist distant allusion to the saints and angels, as 
persons to whom supplication should be addressed. 
"Let us venerate the Lord J«us, w^se Wood was 
given for us." ..." Let us approach HIM (God) m 
Liness of soul, lifting up holy and .^defiled hands 
towards Him ... . loving our merciful and tender 
Father, who hath made us a portion of his elect . 

Of any other being to whom the invocations of the 
faithful should be offered, except God alone, and ot 
any other advocate and intercessor, except the L-orrt 
Jesus alone, Clement seems to have had no know- 
ledge. Could this have been so had those who re- 
ceived the Gospel from the very fountain-head been 
accustomed to pray to the angels, or to the holy men 



5 Epist. Corinth, c. xxi. and xxix. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 13 

who had finished their course on earth, and were gone 
to their reward ? 

4. Saint Ignatius sealed the truth of the Gospel 
with his blood about seventy years after the death of 
our Lord. In his works, in which many passages 
occur most cheering and uplifting to the soul, no 
vestige however faint can be found of the invocation 
of saints or angels; whilst he prays for his fellow 
labourers to the Lord ; and he implores them to 
approach the throne of grace with supplications for 
mercy on his soul 6 . "Long since have I prayed to 

j God, that I might be worthy to see your faces which 
ij are worthy of God." . . • . " Only pray for strength 

that it may be given to me from within and from 
I without, that I may not only say but also may will ; 

and not that I may be only called a Christian, but 

also may be found to be so." " Pray to Christ for 

me." 

5. The only remaining name among those who are 
, called Apostolical Fathers is the venerable Polycarp. 
j He suffered martyrdom by fire at a very advanced age 

in Smyrna, about 1 30 years after our Saviour's death. 
In the only epistle of Polycarp that remains, addressed 
to the Philippians, he speaks to his brother Christians, 
of constant continual prayer — but he speaks only of 
prayer to the all-seeing God. He marks out for our 
imitation the good example of St. Paul, and the other 
Apostles, assuring us that they had not run in vain, 
but were gone to the place prepared for them by the 
Lord, as the reward of their labours. But not one 
word can we find alluding to the invocation of saints 
in prayer. 

Here we must refer, though briefly, to the 7 epistle 
from the Church of Smyrna to the neighbouring 
Churches, announcing the martyrdom of Polycarp, and 
relating the affecting circumstances which attended 
it. The letter purports to contain the very words of 
| the martyr himself in the last prayer which he ever 

i 6 Epistle to the Romans i. 3, 4. 

7 Eusebius, Paris, 1628. Book i. Hist, iv. c. xv. p. 163. 



14 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

offered on earth. On the subject of our present 
inquiry, this interesting letter, of the genuineness 
of which there is no ground for doubt, supplies 
evidence not merely negative. So far from coun- 
tenancing any invocation of saint or martyr, it con- 
tains a vlry striking passage, the plain common-sense 
meaning of which bears decidedly against al exaltation 
of mortals, into objects of religious worship. lhe 
letter is so generally known, that we may theless 
regret our inability to quote it at length in these 
pages, though every line is deeply interesting;. 

"The Church. of God which is in Smyrna, to the 
Church in Philomela, and to all the branches of the 
Holy Catholic Church dwelling in any place, mercy, 
peace, and love of God the Father, and our Lord 

Jesus Christ be multiplied. . . . . . 

« The proconsul in astonishment caused it to be 
proclaimed thrice, Polycarp has confessed himself to 
be a Christian. On this they all shouted that he 
proconsul should let a lion loose on Polycarp : but the 
Barnes were over, and this could not be done; they 
then with one accord insisted on his being burnt to 
death " 

Be'fore his death Polycarp offered this prayer, or 
rather this thanksgiving to God for his mercy in thus 
deeming him worthy to suffer death in testimony of 

^ « Father of thy beloved Son Jesus Christ, by whom 
we have received our knowledge concerning 1 hee, the 
God of angels, and powers,and of the whole creation, and 
of the whole family of the just who live before Thee 
I bless Thee because Thou hast deemed me worthy ot 
this day and this hour, to receive my portion among 
the maVtyrs in the cup of Christ, to the resurrection 
both of soul and body in the mcorruption of the Holy 
Ghost; among whom may I be received before Thee 
this day in a rich and acceptable sacrifice, even as 
Thou the true God, who canst not lie, foreshowing^ana 
fulfilling, hast beforehand prepared. 
all I praise Thee, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee through 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 15 

the eternal high-priest Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, 
through whom to Thee with Him in the Holy Ghost, 
be glory both now and for future ages. Amen." 

After recounting the circumstances of his death the 
narrative proceeds : "But the envious adversary of 
the just observed the honour put on the greatness of 
his testimony, and his blameless life from the first, 
and knowing that he was now crowned with victory, 
resisted when many of -us desired to take his body, and 
have fellowship with his holy flesh. Some then 
suggested to Nicetes the father of Herod, and brother 
of Dalce, to entreat the governor not to give his 
body. c Lest,' said he, 6 leaving the crucified One, they 
should begin to worship this man and this they said 
at the suggestion and importunity of the Jews, who 
also watched us, when we would take the body from 
the fire. This they did, not knowing that we can 
never either leave Christ, who suffered for the salva- 
tion of all who will be saved in all the world, or 
worship any other. For Him, being the Son of 
God, we worship, but the martyrs, as disciples 
and imitators of our lord, we w t orthily love, 
because of their pre-eminent good-will to- 
WARDS their own King and Teacher, with 

WHOM MAY WE BECOME PARTAKERS, AND FELLOW 
DISCIPLES ! 

" The centurion," it is added, "seeing the deter- 
mination of the Jews, placed him in the midst, and 
burnt him as their manner is. And thus we collecting 
his bones, more valuable than precious stones, and 
more esteemed than gold, deposited them where it 
was meet. There, as we may be able, collecting our- 
selves together in rejoicing and gladness,the Lord will 
grant to us to observe the birth-day of his martyrdom, 
for the remembrance of those who have before under- 
gone the conflict, and for exercise and preparation of 
those who are to come." 

Such is the record of the martyrdom of Polycarp, 
and how full is it of interesting and important sugges- 
tions ! In this work of primitive antiquity we find 



16 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

the prayer of a holy martyr, at his last hour, offered 
o Go/alone through Christ alone. Here we find no 
allusion to any other intercessor, no commending ; ot 
his soul by the dying Christian to saint or angel. 
PoWp pleads no y other merit; he seeks no other 
fntelesLn; he prays for no aid, ^jf^™ 
Redeemer's. How strongly does Polycarr » s _ prayer 
contrast with the commendation made by Thomas a 
Becket of his own soul, when he was murdered in his 
own cathedral of Canterbury, as that ?o™^ d ^ n a ; s 
recorded in the ancient Romish services for his day, 
o which we have referred at length in a previous 
number ! The comparison will impress upon us the 
aifference between religion and superstition, between 
the purity of primitive Christian worship, and the 
unhappy corruptions of a degenerate age. « io Uoo, 
(sucb is Thomas a Becket's prayer) and the blessed 
ffary, and Saint Dionysius, and the holy pa rons of 
this Church, I commend myself and the Church. 

In the record of Polycarp's martyrdom we find also 
an explicit declaration! that Christians then offered 
relidous worship to no one but God, while hey 
oved the martyrs and kept their names in grateful 
remembrance, and honoured their ashes also when the 

SP Her^too^ve find that the place of a- Christian 
martyA burial was the place which the early Chris- 
S 7 oved to frequent; but then we are expressly 
told with what intent they met there-not as in later 
times o invoke the departed spirit of the martyr, but 
o calUo mind, in grateful remembrance, thesufferings 
of those who had already endured the awful ^ggle ; 
and by their example to encourage and prepaie other 
LldieVs of the cross to fight the good fight of faith, 
assured that they would be more than conquerors 
through Him who loved them. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



No. VII. 



ON THE 

INVOCATION OF SAINTS AND ANGELS. 

EVIDENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 
AGAINST IT. 

Continued. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



j Invocation of Saints and Angels —Evidence of the 
Primitive Church against it* 

In the previous number, we examined those re- 
mains of Christian antiquity which are called the 
works of the Apostolical fathers ; persons who at the 
very lowest calculation lived close upon the Apostles' 
time, and who, according to the conviction of many, 
had all of them conversed with the Apostles, and 
j heard the Gospel from their mouths. We may well 
rejoice to find the fundamental articles of our faith 
witnessed by these holy men, not so much by direct 
and positive statements, (though we find many such,) 
as by what is far more satisfactory and beyond cavil, 
incidental, and, as they seem, unintentional allusions to 
those articles as familiar truths, taking them for granted 
as well known' and received principles. Now suppose 
no such statements or allusions at all were found in 
these early documents; suppose, for example, we 
could find no reference to the atoning sacrifice of our 
Saviour's death, no incidental allusion to it, no trace 
of any cognizance of it on the part of the writers 
either as a doctrine of their own creed, or as received 
by their contemporary Christians ; with what force of 
argument would the absence of all such vestiges of the 
I doctrine be urged against the existence and preva- 
' lence of the doctrine in those times? And how, in 



20 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

plain honesty, can we avoid a similar process of reason- 
ing on the subject of the invocation of saints i It the 
doctrine and the practice of praying to saints or to 
angels for their succour, or for their intercession, had 
been known, and recognised, and approved, and acted 
upon by the Apostles, and those who were the very 
disciples of the Apostles, would not some plain, 
palpable, intelligible, and unequivocal indications 
of it have appeared in such writings as these ( 
In these writings much is said of prayer, ot 
intercessory prayer, of the one object of prayer, 
of the subjects of prayer, of the time and place 
of prayer, of the spirit in which we are to offer prayer, 
and the persons for whom we ought to pray ; does it then 
accord with common sense and common experience,— 
with what we should expect and require in other cases, 
that we should find a profound and total silence on the 
subject of any prayer or invocation to saints and angels, 
if the invocation of saints and angels had been recog- 
nised, approved, and practised by the primitive Church. 

If we proceed with our inquiry into the evidence 
left us by the Christian writers of times following the 
age usually assigned to the Apostolical fathers, we 
arrive at the same result. 

Till the middle of the fourth century, or rather the 
closing years of it, we find no signs of the prevalence ot 
the doctrine and practice of the worship of saints and 
angels. Then, unhappily, innovations began to spread 
through the Church itself, which had before retained the 
original divine doctrine of one God, to whom Christians 
must prav, and one Mediator and Intercessor through 
whom they must prav. But instead of being surprised 
that such innovations should have so soon prevailed, 
when we reflect on the general tendency of the natural 
man as to the objects of religious worship, and also how 
great is the temptation in teachers, either unenlightened 
or guided by a crooked policy, to accommodate the 
dictates of truth to the prejudices and desires of those 
whom they instruct, our wonder might rather be, that 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 21 

Christianity was so long preserved pure and unconta- 
minated in this respect, than that corruptions should 
gradually and stealthily have mingled themselves with 
the simplicity of Gospel worship. The tendency of the 
natural man is to multiply to himself the objects of 
religious worship, and to create, by the help of super- 
stition and the delusive working of the imagination, a 
variety of unearthly beings, whose wrath he must 
appease, or whose favour he may conciliate. That 
tendency is plainly evinced by the history of every 
nation under heaven ; it was the same tendency 
which rendered such guards and fences necessary to 
preserve the children of faithful Abraham from its 
contamination; and even those laws of the Most 
High often failed of securing his worship from its in- 
roads. Greek and Barbarian, Egyptian and Scy- 
thian, would have their " gods many, and their lords 
many." Toonethey would look for one good; onanother 
they would depend for a different benefit in mind, 
body, and circumstances. Some were of the highest 
grade, and to be worshipped with supreme honours; 
others were of a lower rank, to whom an inferior 
homage was addressed; whilst a third class held a 
sort of middle place, and were approached with a 
reverence far above the least, though infinitely be- 
low the greatest. In the heathen world we find exact 
types of the dulia, the hyperdulia, and the latria, 
with which unhappily the practical theology of modern 
Christian Rome is burdened 1 . 

It is, indeed, a cause of wonder, that when, under the 
Christian dispensation, the household and local, male 
and female deities, the heathens' tutelary gods, and the 
genii, had been dislodged by the light of the Gospel, 
angels, and male and female saints, were not even at a 
much earlier date forced by superstition to occupy 
the vacated places : especially when we bear in mind 

1 In the Roman Church, the word dulia is said to mean the wor- 
ship paid to saints and angels ; hyperdulia, the worship paid to the 
Virgin ; latria, the worship paid to God. 



22 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

what powerful helps and extraordinary facilities were 
afforded to these external causes, by the religious pro- 
ceedings which were taking place among Christians 
themselves at the tombs and « memories," as ; they were 
called, of the martyrs. We shall be led to reter 
to some passages in the early Christian writers, repre- 
senting in strong but true colours, the weakness and 
folly of deeming a multitude of inferior divinities 
necessary, whose good offices we must secure by acts ot 
attention and worship. We anticipate the observation 
in this place merely to remind the reader, that the ap- 
petency of the human mind to secure a variety ot 
unseen protectors and benefactors, to be appeased 
and conciliated by man, was among the many obsta- 
cles with which the first preachers of the Gospel had 
to struggle. When we come to those passages, the 
reflection will force itself upon us, how hardly it 
would have been possible for those early Christian 
writers to express themselves in so strong, so sweep- 
ing, and so unqualified a manner (making no exceptions 
or limitations), had the practice of applying by invoca- 
tion to saints and angels then been prevalent among 
the disciples of Christ. But we now proceed with 
our inquiry into the evidence of the primitive 
writers. 



Justin Martyr*, a.d. 150. 

Justin, who flourished about the year 150, was 
trained from early youth in all the learning of Greece 
and Egypt. He was born in Palestine of heathen 
parents, and after a patient examination of the evi- 
dences of Christianity, and a close comparison of 
them with the systems of philosophy with which he 
had been familiar, he became a Christian. In those 
svstems he found nothing solid or satisfactory ; nothing 



2 Paris, 1742. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 23 

on which his mind could rest. In the Gospel he 

| gained all that his soul yearned for, as a being destined 

i| for immortal life, conscious of that destiny, and longing 
for its accomplishment. The testimony of such a 
man on any doctrine connected with our Christian 
faith must be looked to with interest. 

In Justin's works we are unable to find a single vestige 
of the invocation of saints. Though he speaks much on 
the subject of prayer, and has left some testimonies as to 
the primitive mode of conducting public worship, full 
of interest in themselves, as well as bearing on the 

i points at issue ; still no expression is found 
which can be construed to imply the doctrine or prac- 

! tice among Christians of invoking the souls of the 
departed. He speaks of private as well as of pub- 
lic prayer, and he offers prayer; but the prayer which 

j he offers, and the prayer of which he speaks are to God 
alone ; and he alludes to no mediator or intercessor in 
heaven, except only the eternal Son of God Himself. 
Nor is this all. Justin maintains a doctrine which. 

I utterly overturns the very foundation on which the 
entire theory of the invocation of saints is built. 
He holds that the souls of the blessed are not ad- 
mitted into heaven now, but are waiting for the 
general resurrection; whereas the very essence of the 
advocacy of the saints is, that they are now in heaven 
with God, and reigning with Christ. 

Thus in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, (sect, v.) 
he says, "Nevertheless, I do not say that souls all 
die; for that were in truth a boon to the wicked. 

i But what? That the souls of the pious remain some- 
where in a better place, and the unjust and wicked in 
a worse, waiting for the time of judgment, when it 
shall be; thus the one appearing worthy of God do 
not die any more; and the others are punished 
as long as God wills them to exist, and to be 
punished." 

I Not only so. Justin classes among renouncers 
I of the faith, those who maintain the doctrine which 



24 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

is now the acknowledged doctrine of the Church of 
Rome, and considered indispensable as the groundwork 
of the invocation of saints. In the same dialogue 
(sect, lxxx.) he thus strongly states his sentiments, ■ it 
you should meet with any persons called Christians 
who confess not this, but dare to blaspheme the God 
of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, and say there is 
no resurrection of the dead, but that their souls at the 
very time of their death are taken up into heaven, do 
not regard them as Christians." 

But whilst Justin's testimony is so full and conclu- 
sive against the invocation of saints, a passage occurs 
in his first Apology 3 , admitting of two grammatical 
renderings; one which places the angels between the 
second and third persons of the ever blessed Trinity, as 
objects of the Christian's reverence and worship ; the 
other, which represents them as being taught divine 
truths by the Son of God. The first interpretation 
is so full of impiety, that we at once reject it; the 
second is so entirely in accordance with the sentiments 
of many celebrated men in the earliest times, that we 
feel no doubt in receiving it. The subject is, how- 
ever fully discussed in « Primitive Christian Wor- 
ship," page 107 ; and we must, therefore, refer the 
reader, who desires to enter into the question more at 
large, to that work. ; 

We have already said, that not a single word can 
be found in Justin to sanction the invocation of saints; 
but his testimony is far from being merely negative. 
He strongly admonishes us against our looking to any 
other being than God for help or assistance. Without 
any exception or modification in favour of saint or 
angel, he says, among various passages of similar im- 
port,—" In that Christ said, Thou art my God, go 
not far from me, He at the same time taught, that all 
persons ought to hope in God, who made all things, 
and seek for safety and health from Him alone . 

3 Page 47. 1 Tryphol02,p. 197. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 25 



Irenceus*, a.d. 180. 

Justin sealed his faith by his blood about the year 
165, and next to him in the noble army of martyrs, 

j we must examine the evidence of Irenseus, bishop of 
Lyons* A very small proportion of his works survives 

\ in the original Greek ; but that little will cause every 
scholar and divine to lament the calamity which theo- 
logy and literature have sustained by the loss of the 
author's own language. We must now avail ourselves 

j with thankfulness of the nervous, though inelegant, 

I copy of that original, which the Latin translation, 

! corrupt and imperfect in many parts, still affords. 

| There is not a single passage found in Irenseus to 
countenance the invocation of saints and angels ; on 
the contrary, there is evidence which leaves no doubt 
that neither in faith nor practice would he sanction 
such invocation. 

With regard to angels, we find these sentiments: 

i " Nor does it [the Church] do any thing by invo- 
cation of angels, nor by incantations, nor other de- 

| praved and curious means, but with purity, and open- 
ness, directing prayers to the Lord who made all 
things ; and calling upon the name of Jesus Christ 
our Lord, it exercises its powers for the benefit, and 
not the seducing of mankind 5 ." It has been said, that 
by angelic invocations, Irenseus means addresses to 
evil angels and genii, such as the heathen super- 
stitiously used to make. But that is a mere assump- 
tion, not warranted by the passage or its context. 
And surely, even were that so, had Irenseus known 
that Christians prayed to angels as well as to their 
Maker and their Saviour, he would not have used so 
unguarded and unqualified an expression ; but would 

4 There is a passage in Irenseus often referred to, in which a con- 
trast is drawn between Eve and the Virgin Mary, and to that our 
attention will he drawn, when we inquire into the worship of the 
I Virgin Mary. 

I 5 Benedictine Ed., lib. ii. e. 32, sect. 5, p. 166. 

[656] b 



26 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

have cautioned his readers against any misapprehen- 
sion of his meaning. , , . .. , 

Then, azain, with regard to the invocation oi the 
saints, beatified spirits of mortals supposed to be now 
with God, one passage is conclusive as to his taiUi and 
practice. Cardinal Bellarmin, and all who maintain the 
doctrine of the invocationof saints, assume that the saints 
are already in heaven: for, say they, if the saints are not 
already in the presence of God, they cannot pray for 
their brethren on earth, and prayer to them would 
therefore be preposterous 6 . But Irenasus is clear in 
Sg the doctrine, that the souls of Christians go to 
the uLen place, and remain there L^WjjSJ 
and the re-union of body and soul. In the following 
quotation, the words printed in small capitals are found : 
both in the Latin and the Greek copies : 

« Since the Lord, in the midst of the shadow ot 
death, went where the souls of the dead were, and 
then afterwards rose bodily, and after his resurrection : 
was taken up, it is evident that of his disciples also, 
for whom the Lord wrought these things, the souls 

GO INTO THE UNSEEN PLACE ASSIGNED TO THEM BY 
GOD, AND THERE REMAIN TILL THE RESURRECTION, 
WAITING FOR THE RESURRECTION; AFTERWARDS RE- 
CEIVING AGAIN THEIR BODIES, AND RISING PER- 
FECTLY, THAT IS, BODILY; EVEN AS THE LORD ALSO 
ROSE AGAIN, SO WILL THEY COME INTO THE PRE- 
SENCE of god. For no disciple is above his master, but 
every one thatis perfectshall beashis master. As, there, 
fore, our Master did not immediately flee away and 
depart, but waited for the time of the resurrection, 
So nted by his Father, which is evident even by 
tL P case of Jonah, after the third day rising again he 
was taken up; so we, too, must wait for the time 
of our resurrection, appointed by God, and fore- 
announced by the prophets, and thus rising again, be 

6 Bell. lib. i. c. 4, vol. ii. p. 851. 

7 Lib. v. c. 32, sect. 2, p. 331. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 27 

taken up, as many as the Lord shall have deemed 
worthy of this." 

Clement of Alexandria*. — About the year 180. 

Contemporary with Irenseus, and probably less than 

j twenty years his junior, was Clement, the celebrated 

I Christian philosopher of Alexandria. We are not 

j aware that any Roman Catholic writer has appealed 
to the testimony of Clement, in favour of the invoca- 
tion of saints : nor is there probably a passage to be 

J found which the defenders of that practice would be 

j likely to quote in its support ; and yet there are many 
passages, which any one anxious to trace the true Chris- 

J tian faith, in this respect, would not willingly neglect. 

I The tendency of Clement's mind to blend with the sim- 
plicity of the Gospel the philosophy with which he so 
fully abounded, renders him the less valuable as a Chris- 
tian teacher ; but his evidence as to the question of fact, 
Was the invocation of saints prevalent among Christians 

j in his day, or not ? is rendered even more cogent and 

j pointed by this tendency of his mind. 

Clement has left us many of his meditations on the 
efficacy, the duty, and the comfort of prayer. When 
he speaks of God and of the Christian in prayer, (for 
"prayer" he defines to be "communion or intercourse 
with God,") his language becomes often exquisitely 
beautiful, and not unfrequently sublime. We can 
only add a few detached passages ; and yet those few 

i may show, that Clement is a man whose testimony 

I cannot be slighted : 

" Therefore, keeping the whole of our life as a 
feast, every where and on every part persuaded that 

j God is present, we praise Him as we till our lands; 

, we sing hymns as we are sailing. The Christian is 
convinced that God hears every thing ; not the voice 
only, but the thoughts. Suppose any one should say 



8 Ed. Oxon. 1715. 
B 2 



28 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

that the voice does not reach God, revolving as it does 
in the air below; yet the thoughts of the saints cut 
through not only the air, but the whole world. And * 
the divine power, like the light, is beforehand in seeing 
through the soul. He [the perfect Christian, whom 
he speaks of throughout as the man of divine know- 
ledge] prays for things essentially good 9 . 

" Wherefore, it best becomes those to pray who 
have an adequate knowledge of God, and possess 
virtue in accordance with Him— who know what are 
real goods, and what we should petition for, and ] 
when, and how in each case. But it is the extreme 
of ignorance to ask from those who are not gods, as 

though thev were gods Whence, since 

there is one only good God, both we ourselves and 
the angels supplicate from Him alone, that^ good 
things might be either given to us, or remain with us. 
In this way, he [the Christian] is always in a state of 
purity fit for prayer. He prays with angels, as being : 
himself equal with angels ; and as one who is never 
beyond the holy protecting guard. And if he pray 
alone, he has the whole choir of angels with him 1 ." 

Clement alludes to instances alleged by the Greeks 
of the effects of prayer, and he adds, " Our whole 
Scripture is full of instances of God hearing and 
granting every request according to the prayers of 
the just 2 ." Having in the same section referred to 
the opinion of some Greeks, as to the power of demons 
over the affairs of mortals, he says 3 , " But they think 
it matters nothing whether we speak of these as gods, 
or as angels, calling the spirits of such 6 demons,' and 
teaching that they should be worshipped by men, <\s 
haviug, by divine providence, on account of the purity 
of their lives, received authority to be conversant 
about earthly places in order that they may minister 
to mortals." Is it possible to suppose that this 



* Stromata, lib. vii. sect. 7, P- 851. 1 Sect. xii. p. 879. 

* Sect. iii. p. 753. 3 Lib. vi. sect, 3, p. / 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 29 

teacher in Christ's school had any idea of a Christian 
praying to saints or angels ? In the last passage, the 
1 language in which he quotes the errors of heathen 
superstition to refute them, so nearly approaches the 
j language of the Church of Rome, when speaking of the 
powers of saints and angels to assist the supplicant, that 
we conceive if Clement had any thought whatever of a 
! Christian praying for aid and intercession to saint or 
angel, he must have mentioned it, especially after the 
j previous passage on the absurdity and ignorance of 
, praying for any good, at the hands of any other than 
| the one true God. In common with his eontem- 
j poraries, Clement considered the angels to be, as we 
mortals are, in a state requiring all the protection and 
help to be obtained by prayer; he believed that the 
( angels pray with us, and carry our prayers to God : 
| but the thought of addressing them by invocation does 
not appear to have occurred to his mind. At the 
close of his " Psedagogus" he has left us a form of 
i prayer to God alone, very peculiar and interesting. 
He closes it by an ascription of glory to the blessed 
Trinity. But to saint, or angel, or the Virgin, there 
is no allusion. 

Tertullian*. — About a.d. 180. 

Tertullian of Carthage, was a contemporary of 
Clement of Alexandria, and so nearly were they of 
the same age, that it has been doubted which should 
take precedence in point of time. There is a very 
wide difference in the character and tone of their 
works, as there w r as in the frame and constitution of 
their minds. The lenient and liberal views of the 
, erudite and accomplished master of the school of 
Alexandria, stand out in broad contrast with the harsh 
and austere doctrines of Tertullian. 

Cardinal Bellarmin calls Tertullian a heretic, and 



* Ed. Paris, 1675. 
B 3 



30 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

says he was the first heretic who denied that the 
saints went at once, and forthwith, to glory. We have 
already seen how entire a misrepresentation ot the 
sentiments of the early fathers is conveyed in this 
iudgment of Bellarmin. And Jerome, from whom 
the Roman Church is unwilling to allow any appeal, 
as beino- himself an oracle on such subjects, would 
lead us°to form a very different opinion of the estima- 
tion in which Tertullian was held by the fathers ot 
the early Church: for he tells us, that after Tertul- 
lian had remained a presbyter of the Church to < 
middle age, he was, by the envy and revilings of the 
members of the Roman Church, driven to fall trom 
its unity, and espouse Montanism. He also informs 
us, that "St. Cyprian never passed a single day 
without reading Tertullian, whom he called The Mas- 
ter, often saying to his secretary, give me The Mas- 
ter, meaning Tertullian V \ . ' 

Tertullian fell into serious errors by joining himselt 
to Montanus. Still we see in him, throughout, traces 
of that spirit which animated the early converts of 
Christianity ; and his whole soul seems to have been 
bent on promoting the practical influence of the 
Gospel. A wide distinction is drawn by Romanist 
writers between the works of Tertullian written be- 
fore he espoused Montanism and afterwards. But 
this distinction does not affect his testimony on the 
historical fact before us. If, indeed, he held the doc- 
trine of the invocation of saints before he took that 
unhappy step, and rejected it afterwards, no one con- 
ducting such an argument as the present could quote 
against the practice his later opinions. But we are 
only inquiring into the matter of fact. Is there, in 
the works of Tertullian, any evidence that the invoca- 
tion of saints formed part of the doctrine and practice 
of the Christian Church in or before his time ? 



5 Jerome, ed. 1584, torn. ii. p. 183. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 31 

j The following passages cannot be read but with in- 
terest :— 

" We invoke the eternal God, the true God, the 
living God, for the safety of the emperor. Thither 

! [heavenward] looking up with hands extended, be- 
cause they are innocent; with our head bare, because 
we are not ashamed; in fine, without a prompter, be- 
cause it is from the heart, we Christians pray for all 
rulers a long life, a secure government, a safe home, 
brave armies, a faithful senate, a good people, a quiet 

' world. . . For these things I cannot ask in prayer from 
any other except Him from whom I know that I shall 
obtain, because He is the one who alone grants, and 
I am trie one who needs to obtain by prayer; his 

1 servant, who looks to Him alone, who for the sake of 
his religion am put to death, who offer to Him a rich 

| and greater victim, which He has commanded, prayer 
from a chaste frame, from a harmless soul, from a 
holy spirit. ... So let hoofs dig into us, let crosses 
suspend us, let fires embrace us, let swords sever our 
necks from the body, let beasts rush upon us; the 
very frame of mind of a praying Christian is prepared 
for every torment. This do, good presidents ! tear 
ye away the soul that is praying for the emperor V 

In the opening of his reflections on the Lord's 
Prayer, we find these words: — 

" Let us consider, therefore, beloved, in the first 
place, the heavenly wisdom in the precept of praying 
in secret, by which He required in a man faith to 
believe, that both the sight and the hearing of the 
Omnipotent God is present under our roofs, and in 
our secret places ; and desired the lowliness of faith, 
that to Him alone, whom he believed to hear and to 
see every where, he would offer his worship V 

We will only add Tertullian's solemn profession of 
his faith, the last clause of which, though in perfect 

| accordance with the sentiments of his contemporaries, 

6 Apolog. sect. xxx. r . 27. 7 Pa g e 129 « 

I B 4 



32 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

seems to have been regarded unfavourably by modern 
writers of the Church of Rome, because it bids us 
look to the day of judgment for the saints being taken 
to the enjoyment of heaven ; and consequently im- 
plies, that 'they cannot be properly invoked now. 
« To profess now what we maintain : by the rule ot 
our faith we believe that God is altogether one, and 
no other than the Creator of the world, who produced 
all things out of nothing by his Word first of all sent 
down : that that Word, called his Son, was variously [ 
seen by the patriarchs in the name of God ; was always : 
heard in the prophets, at length borne by the Spirit 
and power of God the Father into the Virgin Mary, 
was made flesh in her womb, was born of her, and was 
Jesus Christ. Afterwards He preached a new law, 
and a new promise of the kingdom of heaven ; wrought 
miracles, was crucified, rose again the third day, and 
being taken up into heaven, sat on the right hand of 
the Father ; and He sent in his own stead the power of 
the Holy Ghost to guide believers: that He shall 
come with glory to take the saints to the enjoyment 
of eternal life, and the heavenly promises, and to con- 
demn the impious to eternal fire, making a reviving 
of both classes with the restoration of the body V 



Origen, a.d. 230. 

Jerome informs us that Tertuilian lived to a very 
advanced age. Long before his death, flourished 
Origen, one of the most celebrated lights of the pri- 
mitive Church. He was educated a Christian. In- 
deed his father is said to have suffered martyrdom 
about a.d. 202. Origen was a pupil of Clement ot 
Alexandria. His virtues and his labours have called 
forth the admiration of all ages ; and what still remains 
of his works will be delivered down as a rich treasure 
to future ages. He was a most voluminous writer, 



8 De Prescript. Hseret. sect. xiii. p. 206. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 33 

and Jerome 9 asked the members of his Church, Who 
is there among us that can read as many books as 
Origen composed ? A large proportion of his works 
are lost; and of those which remain few are preserved 
in the original Greek. We are often obliged to study 
Origen through the medium of a translation, of which 
we have no means of verifying the accuracy. A diffi- 
cult and delicate duty also devolves upon the theo- 
logical student to determine which of the works 
attributed to Origen are genuine, and which are spu- 
rious ; and what parts moreover of the works received 
as genuine came from his pen. While we trust in 
this examination of his evidence to appeal to no 
work which is not confessedly his, nor to exclude any 
passage not decidedly spurious, we must refer the 
reader for a statement of reasons for rejection or ad- 
mission of the several writings in detail, to the work 
above adverted to, " Primitive Christian Worship," 
lately adopted on the Catalogue of the Society, 
p. 103, &c. and 151, &c. 

Proceeding, then, in our inquiry into the testimony 
of Origen 3 we would premise, that no doubt can be 
entertained of his having believed angels to be 
ministering spirits, fellow labourers with us in the 
momentous work of our salvation. He represents the 
angels as members of the same family with ourselves, 
as worshippers of the same Lord, as servants of the 
same Master, as children of the same Father, as dis- 
ciples of the same heavenly Teacher, as learners of one 
and the same heavenly doctrine. He contemplates 
them as members of our Christian congregations, as 
joining with us in prayer to our heavenly Benefactor, 
and as taking pleasure when they hear in our assem- 
blies what is agreeable to the will of God. But does 
Origen, therefore, countenance any invocation of 
angels ? Let his own words testify. 

Celsus accused the Christians of being Atheist^ 

9 Vol. iv. Epist. 41, p. 346. 
B 5 



34 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

godless men, without God in the world, because they 
would not worship those " gods many, and lords many," 
and those secondary, subordinate, and ministering 
divinities with which'the heathen mythology abounded. 
Origen answers, We are not godless, we are not 
without an object of our prayer; we pray to God 
Almighty alone through the mediation of his only 
Son. & "*We must pray to God alone, who is over all 
things ; and we must pray also to the only-begotten 
and first-born of every creature, the Word of God; 
and we must implore Him, as our High Priest, to 
carry our prayer, first coming to Him, to his God and 
our God, to his Father and the Father of those who 
live agreeably to the Word of God V But Celsus, in 
this well representing the weakness and failings of 
human nature, still urged on the Christian the neces- 
sity, at all events the expediency, of conciliating those 
intermediate beings, who executed the will of the 
Supreme Being, and might haply have much left at 
their own will and discretion to give or to withhold; 
and securing their good offices by prayer. To this 
Origen answers, "The one God— the God who 
is over all is to be propitiated by us, and to be ap- 
peased by prayer— the God who is rendered favour- 
able by pietv and all virtue. But if he, Celsus, is 
desirous to propitiate, after the Supreme Gc-d, some 
others also, let him bear in mind, that just as a 
body in motion is accompanied by the motion of 
its shadow, so also it follows that a person, by render- 
ing the Supreme God favourable, has all God's 
(his) friends, angels, souls, spirits, favourable also; 
for they sympathize with those who are worthy of 
God's favour. And not only do they become kindly 
affected towards the worthy, but they also join with 
those in their work, who desire to worship the Su- 
preme God : and they propitiate Him, and they pray 
with us, and supplicate with us ; so that we boldly 



1 Cont. Cels, vol. i. sect. 8, c. 26, p. 761. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 35 

say, that together with men, who on principle prefer 
the better part^ and pray to God, ten thousands of 
holy powers join in prayer uncalled upon [un- 
asked, uninvoked]. 

If Christians in Origen's time called upon, invoked, 
asked the angels of Heaven to aid them in their 
pilgrimage, what an opportunity had Origen here 
(not only naturally offering itself, but even forced 
on him) to state, that though Christians do not 
call upon demons and the inferior divinities of hea- 
thenism, yet that they do call upon the ministering 
spirits, the holy angels, messengers, and servants of 
the Most High God ! But while speaking of them, 
and magnifying the blessings derived to man through 
their ministry, so far from encouraging us to ask 
them for their good offices, his testimony is not merely 
negative against such a proceeding ; but he positively 
asserts, that when they assist mankind, it is without 
any request or prayer from man. Could these senti- 
ments have come from one who invoked angels 2 ? 

On Origen's testimony as to the invocation of the 
souls of saints departed, a few words will suffice, for 
he plainly records his belief, that the faithful are still 
waiting for us ; and that till we all rejoice together, 
their joy will not be full. 

We must, however, first advert to a passage in 
Origen's treatise on prayer, alleged with much con- 
fidence, as important and explicit evidence in proof 
of that father's having supported the doctrine of the 
invocation of saints. This supposed testimony of 
Origen is thus cited : — 

< ; He comments on 1 Tim. ii. 1, 'I desire, there- 
fore, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
thanksgiving, be made for all men.' He says, that 
intercessions and thanksgiving may be made to men, 

2 On this same point the reader is referred to many most convin- 
cing passages in Origen's works, among the rest, Cont. Cels. vol. i. 
lib. viii. sect. 60, p. 786 ; lib. v. sect. 4, p. 579 ; lib. viii. sect. 34, p. 766. 

B 6 



36 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

but that supplications are only to be offered to the 
saints, whilst prayers are due to God alone. He 
teaches that we may supplicate a Peter or a Faul to 
assist us, and make us worthy to profit by the power 
given to them to remit sin. And he argues a fortiori 
from this that Christ is to be supplicated." . 

Now, in answer to this most strange perversion ot 
Origen's meaning, we need only put his own words 
side bv side with this comment, to show that the 
commentator has laid before us a totally mistaken 
view of the primitive father's sentiments. _ Ungen 
is here speaking not one word of the saints in glory 
with Christ in heaven, or any supplication to them ; 
he is referring solely to the addresses which a Chris- 
tian may make to his fellow- creatures here on earth. 
With the accuracy of his elaborate distinctions be- 
tween the several words of St. Paul, and with the 
soundness of his doctrine in another point of view 
our argument has no concern. He refers m this 
passage to the authority given to Christ s holy ones, 
the ministers of his Church on earth, to absolve the 
penitent ; and to the propriety of the penitent suppli- 
cating at their hands such absolution ; but that this 
passage has nothing whatever to do with the invoca- 
tion or supplication of the saints in bliss by mortals 
on earth, the words of the passage themselves will be 
the best proof. Origen's words are these :— _ ; 

" Supplication, and intercession, and giving ot 
thanks, it would not be improper to offer even to holy 
men ; yet the two, I mean intercession and giving ot 
thanks, may be offered not only to the holy, but also to 
all men ; but supplication only to the holy, if any 
one may be found a Paul or Peter, in order that 
they may benefit us by making us worthy to partake 
of the authority given to them for the remitting ot 
sins. Still, however, even though a person be not 
holy, and yet we have injured him, it is allowable tor 
us, becoming conscious of our wrong towards him, to 
supplicate even such an one, to grant pardon to us 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 37 

who have injured him. But if we ought to offer these 
to holy men, how much more must we give thanks 
to Christ, who hath, by the will of the Father, con- 
ferred on us so great benefits ?" 

And yet, in the present day, this passage is tri- 
umphantly quoted as the crowning evidence of the 
second and third century in favour of the invocation 
by men on earth of the saints reigning with Christ in 
heaven 3 ! 

But to proceed. In his seventh homiiy on Leviticus, 
we read, " Not even the apostles have yet received their 
j joy; but even they are waiting, in order that I also may 
| become a partaker of their joy. For the saints depart- 
ing hence do not immediately receive all the rewards 
of their deserts; but they are also waiting for us, 
though we be delaying and dilatory. For they have not 
perfect joy, so long as they grieve for our errors, and 
mourn for our sins." Then having quoted the Epistle 
to the Hebrews, he proceeds, "You see, therefore, 
I that Abraham is yet waiting to obtain those things 
i that are perfect; so is Isaac and Jacob; and so are 
j the prophets all waiting for us, that they may obtain 
with us eternal blessedness. Wherefore, even this 
mystery is kept to the last day of delayed judg- 
ment." 

Again we may ask, Could the following passage 
have come from the pen of one, who prayed to the 
saints as already reigning with Christ in heaven, able 
to succour us, and to forward the salvation of us on 
I earth ? 

" Whether the saints who are removed from the 
body, and are with Christ, act at all, and labour for 
us, like the angels who minister to our salvation? 

3 Thetwowordsin italics, " holy" and "all," are restored by the editors 
of Origen's works, as necessary to be supplied: the addition of them 
does not affect our argument. See Benedictine Ed., vol. i. p. 221. 

j See also the annotations in the same edition, copied from the edition 

' of a "Learned Englishman." 



38 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

Let this be considered among the secret things of 
God, mysteries not to be committed to writing . 

These, and very many other passages of a similar 
tendency stand out in striking contrast with those 
passages from the spurious works attributed to Origen, 
which have thoughtlessly and unjustifiably been cited 
bv Roman Catholics of the present day, as evidences 
of Origen on the other side. We cannot but refer, 
for example, to the citation made by Dr Wiseman 
in his Lectures delivered in Moorfields Chapel, 
in 1836, of a passage from a work ascribed to 
Origen on The Lamentations, of which Huet, 
the learned and celebrated Roman Catholic Bishop 
of Avranches, quoted at large by the Bene- 
dictine editors in 1733, thus pronounces his opi- 
nion « It is wonderful that, without any notice 
of their being forgeries, they should be some- 
times cited in evidence by some theologians. to 
the work thus condemned (and that not only by the 
Bishop of Avranches, but by all theological scholars,) 
an appeal is now made in these words, " Again he 
(Origen) thus writes on The Lamentations, 1 will 
fall down on my knees, and not presuming on account 
of mv crimes to present my prayer to Cod, 1 will 
invoke all the saints to my assistance. Oh, ye saints 
of Heaven, I beseech you with a sorrow full of sighs 
and tears, fall at the feet of the Lord of mercies for 
me, a miserable sinner ! "' . 

As lono- as theologians in high station in the Church 
of Rome will " cite in evidence, without any notice ot 
their beino- forgeries," such forgeries as these ; and as 
Ion* as people will receive such evidence, there can 
be no end to controversy on any question. But is 
not the time coming when such quotations, made 
either in ignorance, or carelessness, or design, on 
any side, will bring with them their own antidote i 

* Epist. ad Rom., lib. ii. vol. iv. p. 479. See Horn. III. vol. iii. 
p. 372. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 39 



St. Cyprian 5 , a.b. 258. 

I 

In the middle of the third century, Cyprian 6 , a man 
of substance, and a rhetorician of Carthage, was con- 
| verted to Christianity. He was then fifty years of age, 
and his learning, virtues, and devotedness to the cause 
j which he had espoused, soon raised him to the dignity, 
the responsibility, and the danger of the episcopate. 
Many of his writings, of undoubted genuineness, are 
preserved, and they have been appealed to in every 
i age as the works of a faithful son of the Church of 
I Christ. On the subject of prayer he has written 
I powerfully and affectingly ; but after the most careful 
I examination of his works, especially of those passages 
to which Roman Catholics used to appeal, we are 
unable to find a single expression, which can be made 
to imply that he practised or countenanced the invoca- 
tion of saints and angels. 

In one passage 7 , he exhorts certain living virgins to 
i encourage themselves by mutual exhortations, to re- 
main firm, to conduct themselves spiritually, and gain 
the end happily, finishing his exhortation thus, " Only 
remember us then, when your virgin-state shall begin 
to be honoured." Whatever be the meaning of the 
last words, the persons addressed were still alive on 
earth, and their case therefore does not bear on the 
question before us. 

Another instance to which an appeal has been 
made is equally inapplicable. Cyprian, at the close 
of his letter to Cornelius, puts before us a beautiful 
act of friendship and brotherly affection, deserving the 
imitation of every Christian brother and friend. The 
supporters of the invocation of saints consider Cyprian 
as suggesting to his friend, that whichever of the two 
should be first called away, he would continue, when 
in heaven, to pray for the survivor on earth. Suppose 
it for a moment to be so, the request is made in writ- 

5 Benedict. Paris, 1726. 6 Jerom., vol. iv. p. 342. 7 p. 180. 

i 

1 I 



40 Invocation of Saints and Angeis. 

ine, from a living man to a living man, and has nothing 
whatever to do with our praying, on earth, to one who 
is already dead, and gone to his reward. But Cy- 
prian's words suggest a very different meaning, 
namely, that the two friends should continue to pray 
each in his place, mutually for each other, and for 
their friends, and relieve each other's wants and neces- 
sities whilst both survived; and whenever death should 
remove the one from earth to happiness, the survivor 
should not forget their bond of friendship, but should 
still continue to pray to God for their brothers and 
sisters. The passage translated to . the .letter runs 
thus 8 - "Let us be mutually mindful of each other, 
with one mind and one heart. On both sides, let us 
always pray for each other, let us by mutual love 
relieve each other's pressures and distresses; ana it 
either of us, from hence, by the speed of the Divine 
favour, go on before the other, let our love persevere 
before the Lord; for our brothers and sisters, with the 
Father's mercy, let not prayer cease. My desire, 
most dear brother, is that you may always prosper 
Bishop Fell thus comments on the passage, 1 he sense 
seems to be, When either of us shall die, whether 1, 
who preside at Carthage, or you, who are presiding at 
Rome, shall be the survivor, let the prayer to God, ot 
him whose lot shall be to remain longest among the 
living, persevere and continue.'' « Meanwhile," con- 
tinues file Bishop (whom the Benedictine editors call 
« the most illustrious Bishop of Oxford"), « we by no 
means doubt that souls admitted into heaven apply to 
God, the best and greatest of beings, that He vvould 
have compassion on those who ^**^<»J* 
earth. But it does not thence follow, that prayers 
should be offered to the saints: The man who peti- 
tions THEM MAKES THEM GODS . 

I §?i2& '"'ill find .this passage examined more fully in 
" Primitive Christian Worship." 

» Deos qui rogat ille facit. Oxford, 1682, p. 143. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it 41 

We have room here for only one of those beautiful 
passages with which Cyprian's works abound, and to 
the sentiments of which every Christian will respond. 
It is at the close of the address by which he comforted 
and exhorted his fellow-Christians during the plague 
that raged at Carthage in the year 252. 

" We must consider, most beloved brethren, and 
frequently reflect, that we have renounced the world, 
and are meanwhile living here as strangers and pil- 
grims. Let us embrace the day which assigns each 
to his own home ; which restores us to Paradise and 
the kingdom of heaven, snatched from hence, and 
liberated from the entanglements of the world. What 
man, w T hen he is in a foreign country, would not 
hasten to return to his native land? . . • We regard 
Paradise as our country. We have begun already to 
have the patriarchs for our parents. Why do we not 
hasten and run, that we may see our country, and 
salute our parents? There a large number of dear 
ones are waiting for us, of parents, brothers, and chil- 
dren ; a numerous and full crowd are longing for us, 
already secure of their own immortality, and still 
anxious for our safety. To come to the sight and the 
embrace of these, how great will be the mutual joy to 
them and to us ! What a pleasure of the kingdom of 
heaven is there, without the fear of dying, and with 
an eternity of living ! How consummate and never- 
ending a happiness ! There is the glorious company 
of the apostles, there is the assembly of the exulting 
prophets, there is the unnumbered family of the mar- 
tyrs, crowned for the victory of their struggles and 
sufferings ! There are virgins triumphing, who, by 
the power of chastity, have subdued the lusts of the 
flesh and the body ! There are the merciful recom- 
pensed, who, with food and bounty to the poor, have 
done the works of righteousness, w T ho, keeping the 
Lord's commands, have transferred their earthly in- 
heritance into heavenly treasures ! To these, O most 
dearly beloved brethren, let us hasten with most eager 



42 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

lono-ins? ; let us desire that our lot may be to be with 
them speedily, to come speedily to Christ. Let God 
see this to be our thought ; let our Lord Christ behold 
this to be the purpose of our mind and faith, who will 
£ ive more abundant rewards of his glory to them 
whose desires for Himself have been the greater. 

Lactantius" 1 , a.d. 300. 

Cyprian suffered martyrdom about the year 260. 
Towards the close of the same century, and at the 
beginning of the fourth, nourished Lactantius. He 
was intimately conversant with classical learning and 
philosophy. As Jerome 3 informs us, before he appeared 
L an author, he taught rhetoric in Nicomedia ; and 
afterwards, in extreme old age, he became tutor of 
Cffisar Crispus, son of Constantine, in Gaul. 

Among the writings of Lactantius enumerated by 
Jerome, he mentions the book "On the Anger of 
God/' as a most beautiful work The supporters of 
the adoration of spirits and angels all ow that his testi- 
mony is decidedly against them; they do not refer to 
^single passage in their favour, and their chief desire 
fs toipreciate his merits We need quo e only one 
or two passages from this learned man :— « God hath 
created ministers whom we call messengers [angelsl- 
but neither are they gods, nor do they wish Jc , be 
called gods, or to be worshipped, as being those who 
do nothing beyond the command and will of God . 

In his lork on a Happy Life, we find this conclusive 
evidence against the whole doctrine of the invocation of 
saints — « Nor let any one think that souls are judged 
mmediately after delth. For all are kept ,n one 
common place of guard, until, the time «»"^!*" 
great Judge will institute an mquiry in o their deserts 
Then thole whose righteousness shall be approved 

2 Ed. Longlet Dufresnoy, 1748. 

3 Jerom., vol. iv. part 2, p. 1 19. Pans, 1706. 
* Vol. i. p. 31. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 43 

j will receive the reward of immortality; and those 
jj whose sins and crimes are laid open shall not rise 
again, but shall be hidden in the same darkness with 
the wicked — appointed to fixed punishments 5 ." This 
| testimony is generally considered to be of the date 317. 

Eusebius 6 , a.d. 314. 

The evidence of Eusebius on any subject connected 
with primitive faith and practice, cannot be regarded 

| without deep interest. He flourished about the 

j beginning of the fourth century, and was Bishop of 
Csesarea, in Palestine. His writings were volu- 

! minous, and diversified in their character. But in his 
works, historical, biographical, controversial, or by 
whatever other name any of them may be called, 
overflowing as they are with learning, both philoso- 
phical and scriptural, we find no one single passage to 

, countenance the doctrine of the invocation of saints 
or angels, whether the request were that they would 
grant us any favour, or would pray for us. 

Bellarmin and others indeed quote three passages 
on the invocation of saints and angels. The first is 
cited to show that the souls of the saints are removed 
forthwith from earth to heaven. In this instance the 
translation is entirely w r rong; the words of Eusebius 
being "And such was the struggle of the celebrated 
virgin, which she accomplished;" which Bellarmin 

i quotes thus, " In this manner the blessed Virgin Pota- 

I misena migrated from earth to heaven ' 

In the second passage the misquotation is far more 
serious. Eusebius, marking the resemblance, in many 
points, between Plato's doctrine and Christianity, 
makes this observation on the reverence due, as Plato 
holds, to the good departed. " And this corresponds 

5 Ch. xxi. p. 574. 6 Camb. 1720, and Paris, 1628. 

I 7 Bellarmin, vol. ii. p. 854. Eusebius, Cantab., vol. i. lib. vi. c. 5, 
, p. 263. 



44 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

with what takes place on the death of those lovers of 
God whom you would not be wrong in calling the 
soldiers of the true religion. Whence also it is our 
custom to proceed to their tombs, and at them (the 
tombs) to make our prayers, and to honour their 
blessed souls, inasmuch as these things are with reason 
done by us." This Bellarmin thus quotes, " These 
things we do daily, who honouring the soldiers of true 
religion as the friends of God, approach also to their 
tombs, and make our prayers to them, as to holy 
men, by whose intercession to God we profess to be 
not a little aided 8 ." 

The third quotation is from the letter from the 
Church of Smyrna relating the martyrdom of Poly- 
carp ; and the misquotation is for the purpose of taking 
off the edge of the evidence borne by that letter against 
the worship of saints. The Christians of Smyrna 
declare, without any limitation or qualification, that 
they could never worship any fellow mortal, however 
honoured or beloved ; but the Paris edition interpolates 
the word "as God" after " worship," ^ implying that 
they would offer a secondary worship to a saint. 
Again, whereas Eusebius, in contrasting the worship 
paid to Christ with the feelings of Christians towards 
a martyr, employs the word "love," Bellarmin 
(following in this Ruffinus) interpolates the word 
"worship," "we love and worship" (diligimus et ve- 
neramur). The latter word, though often used by 
ancient writers to mean the religious worship offered 
by man to God, might undoubtedly be used to signify 
the reverence properly shown towards holy men. Still, 
how lamentable is it to attempt to maintain any cause 
by such tampering with ancient testimonies ! 

" Eusebius gives us the same view of the feelings and 
sentiments of the primitive Christians towards the holy 
angels as we have already found in Origen and the 
other Fathers of the Church. 

8 Bellarmin, vol. ii. p. 902. Euseb. Paris, vol. i. lib. xiii. c. II, 
p. 613. Cantab., vol. i. p. 163. 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 45 

" In the doctrine of his Word we have learned that 
there exist, after the Most High God, certain powers, 
in their nature incorporeal and intellectual, rational 
and purely virtuous, who keep their station around 
the Sovereign King — the greater part of whom, by 
certain dispensations of salvation, are sent by the will 
of the Father even as far as to men : whom indeed we 
have been taught to know and to honour according to 
the measure of their dignity, rendering to God alone, 
the Sovereign King, the honour of worship:" " Know- 
ing those divine Powers which serve and minister to 
the Sovereign God, and honouring them as far as it 
is becoming, but confessing God alone, and Him alone 
worshipping 9 ." 

Apostolical Canons and Constitutions. 

The works known by the name of the Apostolical 
Canons and Apostolical Constitutions, though con- 
fessedly not productions of the Apostolic age, have 
been always held in much esteem. The most learned 
writers fix their date at a period not more remote 
than the beginning of the fourth century. A perusal 
of these documents, especially the Constitutions, will 
supply the reader with convincing evidence that the 
invocation of saints was not then practised in the 
Church. Minute rules are given for the conducting 
of public worship ; forms of prayer are prescribed to 
be used in the Church by the Bishops, and Clergy, 
and by the people ; forms of prayer and thanksgiving- 
are recommended for the use of the faithful in private, 
at night, in the morning, and at their meals ; forms 
too there are of creeds and confessions; but not one 
single allusion to any religious address to saint or 
angel. Again and again prayer is directed to be 
made to the one living and true God, and that exclu- 
sively through the mediation and intercession of the 

9 See Cotelerius, vol. i. p. 194. 424. Beveridge, in the same 
vol. p. 427. Cone. Gen. Florence, 1759, torn. i. p. 29. 254. 



46 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

one onlv Saviour Jesus Christ our Lord. Honourable 
mention is made of the saints of the Old Testament, 
and the Apostles and Martyrs of the Num. Directions 
are also given for the observance of their festivals ; but 
not the shadow of a thought appears that their good 
offices could benefit us, much less the most distant 
intimation that Christians might invoke them for their 
prayers and intercessions. , . 

In Book v. c. 7, we read an exceedingly interesting 
dissertation on the general resurrection but not one 
word of saint or angel being beforehand admitted to 
glorv; on the contrary, the declaration is distinct, that 
not "the martvrs onlv,' but all men will rise. Surelv 
such an opportunity would not have been lost at 
Stating the doctrine, that the martyrs were already 
reigning with Christ in heaven, had such been at that 
early period the doctrine of the Church. < 

In Book viii. c. 13, we find this exhortation, "Let 
us remember the holy martyrs, that we may be counted 
worthy to be partakers of their conflict." Not a word 
occurs about Christians asking them to pray in heaven 
for their brethren on earth. 

St. Athanasius, a.d. 350. 

Athanasius, the renowned and undaunted defender 
of the Catholic faith, was born about the year 296, 
and after presiding in the Church as Bishop for more 
than forty-six years, died about a.d. 373, approaching 
his eightieth year. , . . 

It ?s impossible for any one interested in the ques- 
tion, What is the truth on these subjects ? to look with 
indifference on the belief and practice of this primitive 
Christian champion. On the subject of our present 
investigation, few among the early writers ot the 
Church have been so seriously and recklessly misre- 
presented as St. Athanasius. Be larmin and other, 
Site him as a witness in favour of the invocation of 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 47 

saints but the passages are from works confessedly- 
spurious. Since, however, the principal passage 
j relates to the blessed Virgin Mary, it is thought 
desirable to postpone our examination of it till the 
| evidence against the Romish worship of the Virgin 
comes under our review. 

A careful and upright study of the remains of St. 
I Athanasius cannot but impress us with the right and 
scriptural views taken by him of the Christian's hope 
and confidence being in God alone. The glowing fer- 
vour of his piety centered only in the Lord ; his sure 
and certain hope in life and in death anchored only on 
j the mercies of God, through the merits and mediation 
of Jesus Christ our Saviour. 

But while there is not found a single passage in 
Athanasius to countenance the invocation of saints, 
many of his expressions and arguments go far to de- 
monstrate that such a belief, and such a practice, as 
are now acknowledged and insisted upon by the 
I Church of Rome, were neither adopted nor sanctioned 
by him. He repeatedly speaks of the exclusion of 
angels and men from any share in the work of man's 
restoration, without any expressions to qualify his 
assertions, or to preserve them from being misunder- 
stood. He directs our thoughts to holy men and holy 
fathers as our examples, in whose footsteps we ought 
to tread, but not the least intimation occurs that they 
ought after death to be invoked 2 . 

We have not, however, space for many extracts from 
this great authority ; but to one the reader's patient 
and impartial thoughts are invited. It occurs in his 
third oration against the Arians, where he is proving 
the unity of the Father and the Son from St. Paul's 
expressions (I Thess. iii. 11). The argument at large 
will amply repay a careful examination ; its opening 
sentences are these : 

"Thus then again, when he is praying for the 

1 Book viii. p. 415. 2 See vol. i. part i. p. 58. 265. 



43 Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

Thessalonians, and saying, < Now our God and Father i 
himself, and the Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to 
vou,' he preserves the unity of the Father and the 
Son. For he says not ' may they direct, as though 
a twofold grace were given from Him and Him, but 
< may He direct,' to show that the Father giveth this 

through the Son Thus no one would pray to 

receive any thing from God and the angels, or from 
any other created being : nor would any one say. May 
God and the angels give it thee; but from the Fatnei 
and the Son, because of their unity and the oneness 
of the gift. For whatever is given, is given through 
the Son-nor is there any thing which the Father 
works except through the Son: for -thus the receiver 
has the gracious favour without fail. But it the 
patriarch Jacob, blessing his descendants, Ephraun 
and Manasseh, said, < The God who nourished me 
from my youth unto this day, the angel who delivered 
me from all the evils, bless the lads;' he does not join 
one of created beings, and by nature angels, with God 
who created them; nor, dismissing Him, God, who 
nourished him, does he ask the blessing for his de- 
scendants from an angel, but by sayings .He wh o de- 
livered me from all the evils, he showed that it was 
not one of created angels, but the Word of God; and 
joining Him with the Father, he jupphcated Him 
trough whom God delivers whom He wills. For he 
used the expression, knowing Him, ^o is called the 
Messenger of the great counsel of the Father, to be 
no o he? than the very one who blessed and delivered 
from evil. For undoubtedly he did not aspire to be 
blessed himself by God, while he was wilhog for us 
descendants to be blessed by an angel. But the 
same whom he addressed, saying, * I will not let thee 
a 0 except thou bless me' and this was God, as he 
lays, I saw God face to face), Him he prayed to bless 
the ons of Joseph. The peculiar office of anangel » 
to minister at the appointment of God; and rften he 
went on before to cast out the Amonte,and was sent to 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 49 

guard the people on the way ; but these are not the 
I doings of him, but of God who appointed him, and 

sent him, and to whom it belongs to deliver whom He 
! wills." 

| " For this cause David addressed no other on the 

I subject of deliverance but God Himself. But if it 
belongs to no other than God to bless and deliver, and 
it was no other that delivered Jacob than the Lord 
Himself, and the patriarch invoked for his descendants 
Him who delivered him, it is evident that in his prayer 
he joined no one except His Word, whom he called 
an angel for this reason, because He alone reveals 

! the Father." 

"But this no one would say of beings produced 
and created; for neither when the Father worketh 

| does any one of the angels, or any other of created 
beings work the things ; for no one of such beings is 
an effective cause; but they themselves belong to 
things produced. The angels, then, as it is written, 

! are ministering spirits sent to minister; and the gifts 
given by Him^ through the Word they announce, to 
those who receive them." 

Now, if the invocation of angels had been prac- 
tised by the Church at that time, can it for a moment 
be believed that a man of such a mind as was the 
mind of St. Athanasius, clear, cultivated, logical, 
with ardent zeal for the doctrines of the Church, 
and fervent piety, would have sent forth such pas- 
sages as these, without one saving or modifying 
clause in favour of the invocation of angels ? He 
tells us, that they act merely as ministers, ready in- 
deed and rejoicing to be employed on errands of 
mercy, but not going one step or doing one thing 
without the commands of God. Had the thought of 
the lawfulness, the duty, the privilege, the benefit of 
invoking them, been present to the mind of St. 
Athanasius, could he have dispensed with the intro- 

| duct-on of some words to prevent his expressions from 

I being misunderstood and misapplied ? 

[656] c 



i 



50 Invocation of Sa bits and Angels. 

We close the catalogue of our witnesses down to ahe 
Council of Nice with the testimony of St ; fhana 
«ius whose genuine and acknowledged works artord 

to that doctrine and that practice. 

Tf mav be right in this place to observe, that 
•JlS\o escape from — *-»j^3C5l \ 

?od ftlS*3Z** the attribute of ommpre 
fence the defenders of that doctrine have bad re- 
eourse to several expedients explanatory of the man- 
SE 54 the ,il in ^~r^^ J 

SSVaCCSL "^dinal Bellarmine 

?vol i P 735) enumerates four chief modes adopted 
t H Mlo^believers, two of which he pronounces 
to y be inadequate, and therefore to be J^^bE 
other two, that which he considers the le* s tenawe 
and right n itself, he recommends to be adopted be- 
cause heretics have less vantage ground from which 

t0 T S hffirst opinion, he says, is, Jhat angels carry 
up the prayers to the saints, and bring down the 
answers and blessings. • r : ft! „ re 

The second is, That angels and g}« nfi « d 8 P"%J 
endowed with such swiftness of 
in a way be present and hear different piayers 
tered in different places at the same time. 

But the Cardinal objects, that neither of theje 
views can hold, because not swiftness of motion but 
I rue and real ubiquity would be 
ascribe that property to saints and angels he felUvoulcl 
be to invest them with the attribute oi God InmselL 

The third theory, and that which he most ap 



Evidence of the Primitive Church against it. 51 

proves, is, That the saints, at the very commence- 
j ment of their blessedness, have imparted to them, by 
I God, a knowledge of all the prayers, that will be 
I addressed to them, together with all that can 
I happen relating to themselves; so that when the 

prayer is afterwards at any time uttered, though 
I they do not hear it, they know it, and receive it, and 

act upon it. 

The fourth, he says, is, That the saints do not 

; thus see our prayers from the beginning of their own 
blessedness, but that God reveals our prayers to 

I them when and as we utter them. 

On these two last the Cardinal makes the following 

1 remarkable reflections : — The former, he says, seems 
in itself simply the more probable; because, if 
according to the latter supposition, the saints needed 
a new revelation every time a prayer was addressed 
to them, the Church would not so boldly say to all 
the saints, " Pray for us," but would, sometimes, ask 

! of God to reveal our prayers to them. In the next 
place, he says, were this latter theory held, a reason 
could not be so easily given, why the saints should be 
now invoked, though they were not invoked before 
the coming of Christ ! Yet this latter opinion, 
though not in itself the best, may, neverther- 
less, be better calculated to convince heretics; for 
they would not admit the former view, since they 
think that the saints do not see God before the day of 
judgment; but they cannot reject this latter view, 
because though the saints do not see God, yet he 
may still reveal our prayers to them. 

To such unworthy expedients are men driven, 
when they leave the word of God, as the only authority 
without appeal, and teach as essential doctrines the 
inventions of men ! 



Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 



IS ROMANISM? 

No. VIII. 



ON THE 



WORSHIP OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN 



DOCTRINE, AND AUTHORIZED SERVICES 
OF THE CHURCH OF ROME. 



SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, 
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE ; 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 



MARY. 




LONDON: 



Printed for the 



[657] 



1846. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts form part of a series intended to be 
issued, on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published :— 

I. On the Supremacy of the Pope. 
II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

IV. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Old Testament against it. 

V On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the New Testament against it. 

VI On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it. 

VII On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it.— 
[continued]. 

VIII On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.— 
' Doctrine and Authorized Services of the 
Church of Rome. 
IX. On the Worship of the Virgin.— Practical Work- 
ing of the System. 

X. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.— Evidence 

of Holy Scripture against it. 

XI. On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



ON THE WORSHIP OF THE BLESSED 
VIRGIN MARY. 

I H 

Doctrine and Authorized Services of the Church of 
Rome. 

On the title of the present number we would offer a 
few prefatory words, to prevent any misunderstanding 

I of either the principles or the subject of our inquiry. 
The word "worship" admits of various signifi- 
cations, implying sometimes merely the respect 
which one human being may entertain towards an- 
other, and sometimes the highest religious and divine 
honour which a creature can render to the supreme 
Lord of the universe. We are consequently admo- 
nished, on the ground of common justice, not to 
charge the Romanists with a spiritual offence in pay- 
ing " worship " to a creature, but rather to attach to 
their words "worship" and "adoration" those ideas 

! only which are naturally suggested by what they say and 
do. In the justice of this warning we acquiesce ; and^in 
one point of view, our first proceeding in this treatise 
is, we hope, a dispassionate inquiry into the very 
nature and kind of worship which is actually offered 
to the Virgin Mary in the Church of Rome. 

In pursuing this subject honestly and reverently, 

I surely we need not lie under the suspicion of believ- 

j ino; that " the cause of the Son of God is to be pro- 



4 On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
moted, and his mediatorship and honour exalted, by 
decrying the worth and dignity of his mother. i Ins, 
we are told, has been assumed 1 . But whatever per- 
sons may have given occasion for that remark, they 
cannot certainly be enlightened members of our com- 
munion. No true son of the Reformed Church of 
Eno-land can speak disparagingly or irreverently ot 
the blessed Virgin Mary. Our Church, m her Liturgy, 
her Homilies, her Articles, and the works of her , 
standard divines and most approved teachers, ever 
speaks of St. Mary the blessed Virgin in the language 
of reverence and affection. She was a holy virgin, 
and a holy mother, "highly favoured," "blessed 
among women." The Lord was with her, and she 
was the earthly parent of the only Saviour of the 
world. She was herself blessed, and blessed was the 
fruit of her womb. Should any person entertain a 
wish to interrupt the testimony of every succeeding 
a<re, and to check the continuous fulfilment of the 
Virgin's own prophecy, " All generations shall call me 
blessed," we could not acknowledge that wish to 
be the legitimate and genuine desire of a true 
member of our Church. 

But when we are required either to offer prayers 
to God through the intercession and mediation of the 
Virgin Mary, to plead her merits, to address our 
supplications to her, imploring her prayers, and even 
to seek at her hands temporal and spiritual blessings 
which God alone can bestow, and to offer praises to 
her; or else to protest against the errors of our iellow- 
Christians who still adhere to the faith and practice 
of Rome, we cannot hesitate— the case presents no al- 
ternative to our choice— our love of unity, however 
strong and ardent, must yield to our love ot the truth 
as it is in Jesus. We cannot join in that worship 
which we believe to give to a departed mortal 
a share at least of the honour due to God alone, 



1 See Dr. Wiseman's Lectures, vol. ii. p. 92. 



On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 5 

and to exalt the Virgin Mary into that office of 
mediation, advocacy, and intercession between God 

I and man, which the written word of inspiration 
and the doctrine and practice of the primitive 

! Church have taught us to ascribe exclusively to 

! that divine Saviour who was God of the substance of 
his Father, begotten before the world, and man of the 
substance of his mother, born in the world ; whose 
" blood cleanseth from all sin," and who " is able also 
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God 
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession 

| for them V 

We now proceed with our proposed inquiry. 
While the Church of Rome has departed so widely 

1 and essentially from the scriptural and primitive 
standard of belief and worship with regard to angels 
and the souls of departed mortals, as we have seen 
in the foregoing numbers, the full extent to which she 
has carried her lamentable error, is witnessed chiefly 
in her worship of the Virgin Mary; a worship which 

! exhibits in its most complete form the fundamental 
error of that Church, as to the one object of religious 
worship, and to the one Mediator between God and 
man. 

The practical doctrine of the Church of Rome is 
this, that as the Virgin Mary surpasses inestimably 
all saints and angels, cherubim and seraphim, and 
all the powers of Heaven in authority, and purity, and 
dignity, so a worship ought to be addressed to her 
inestimably higher and more sacred than the worship 
paid to them. To stamp this difference in a more 
distinguishing manner, they have coined a new word 
to signify it alone, neither the Greek nor the Latin 
language supplying one adequate to this purpose. 
The worship paid to saints and angels they call by 
the Greek word dulia, i. e. " service to the worship 
paid to the one supreme God they assign the name 

2 1 John i. 7- Heb. vii. 25. 
! A 3 

I . 

1 ... . : : . . .... 



6 On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

of latria, also meaning " service;" whilst to the wor- 
ship of the Virgin they appropriate the newly invented 
word " hyperdulia," implying "a service above the other 
services called dulia s ." 

We are now to inquire in what that worship of the 
Virgin Mary consists; and then to ask our con- 
sciences, and to suggest the same solemn inquiry to 
any of our brethren who may be tempted to espouse 
the doctrines and practices of Rome, Can such worship 
be consistent with our duty to God, who has given to 
us a revelation of his will ; or to his ever-blessed Son, 
our only mediator and advocate ? that God, who will 
not share his glory with another ; that Son, who has 
most mercifully assured us that He is the only Medi- 
ator we need, — " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name 
that will I do;" " If ye ask any thing in my name, I 
will do it 4 ." 

We will proceed then in our examination of the 
same heads of inquiry with regard to the worship 
of the Virgin Mary, which we adopted in our exami- 
nation of the worship of saints and angels. Those 
heads were chiefly the four following, 

First, Prayers made to the Almighty in the name 

s It may be well to observe that this distinction has no ground 
whatever to rest upon beyond the will and the imagination of those 
who draw it. Both the words dulia and latria are used in the Greek 
translation of the Old Testament, and in the original of the New, 
as entirely equivalent expressions without any such distinction. 
Whoever wishes to satisfy himself on this point will imme- 
diately do so by examining Deuteronomy xxviii. 36. 47, 48; 
1 Sam. xvii. 9, xii. 24, xxvi. 19 ; Ezekiel xx. 40, and especially 
1 Thess. i. 9, in comparison with Heb. ix. 14, where we find the 
two words " dulia" and "latria" in the form of verbs, used to signify 
the true worship of God in a person changed from a state of aliena- 
tion to a state of grace. " How ye turned to God from idols to 
serve [dulia] the living and true God." " How much more then the 
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself with- 
out spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve 
[latria] the living God." And that, at least, down to the 5th century 
the words were equally synonymous, is evident from Theodoret, i. 319, 
edit. Halle. 
4 John xiv. 13. 



1 wt 

I p ' 

I 

On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 7 

| of the Virgin, pleading her merits, and offered through 

j her mediation, advocacy, and intercession. 

Secondly, Prayers to herself, beseeching her to 
employ her good offices of intercession with the eternal 

j Father and with her Son. 

Thirdly, Prayers to her, imploring directly at her 

j hands protection from bodily and spiritual evil, guid- 

j ance and aid, and the influences of grace, from herself ; 

j blessings which God alone can bestow. 

j Fourthly, Ascription of divine praises to her, in 
acknowledgment of her attributes and acts of power, 
wisdom, goodness, and mercy; of her exalted state 

j above all the spirits of life and glory in heaven ; and 

I of her share in the redemption of mankind. 

^ In this examination we will first consider the autho- 
rized formularies and prescribed services in the Mis- 
sals and Breviaries used in the Church of Rome ; and 
then endeavour to ascertain the practical working of the 
system, in the writings of her canonized saints, accredited 

I teachers, and devotional guides. In the Missal and 
Breviary indeed we do not find the same startling expres- 
sions of unqualified divine worship, butwe find the same 
principles there ; and after a general survey of the 
worship of the Virgin under its various aspects, the 
unavoidable impression left on the mind is, that 
deplorable as are those extravagant excesses into 
which the votaries of the Virgin Mary have run, their 
unequivocal ascriptions of divine homage to her may 
be defended by an appeal to the authorized Ritual of 
the Church of Rome. 

I. Under the first head, the Roman Missal and 
Breviaries supply too abundant a store of examples, 
some more than others encroaching on the peculiar 
office of our blessed Saviour as the one Mediator be- 
tween God and man. To establish the fact, one or 
two instances may suffice ; while the incessant 
recourse to the advocacy of the Virgin cannot 

j but suggest a painful idea of a want of confidence 



8 On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
in the sole mediation of our Lord Himself, or the 
absence of implicit trust in _ his promise, that the 
eternal Father will never reject any one, however 
humble or unworthy, who comes to Hun in faith by 

hlS In°the post-communion of the day of the As- 
sumption this prayer is offered, « We, Pikers of 
the heavenly board, implore thy clemency, O Lord 
our God, that we who celebrate the Assumption of the 
Mother of God, may, by her intercession, be treed 
from all impending evils." 
We add a few more instances. 
« We beseech Thee, O Lord, let the glorious intei- 
cession of the blessed and glorious ever Virgin Mary 
protect us and bring us to life eternal - Vern. civ. 

On the vigil of the Epiphany this prayer is offered 
at the Mass, « Let this communion, O Lord, purge us 
from guilt, and by the intercession of the blessed 
Virgin Mother of God, let it make us partakers of the 
heavenly cure." « O God, who hast granted to man- 
kind tl J reward of eternal life by the fruitfu virgin- 
hood of the blessed Mary, grant, we beseech Thee, that 
we may have experience of her intercession, 
through whom we were deemed worthy to obtain our 
Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, as the Author of life, who 
Hveth with thee." Vern. clxv. „ 

On the second Sunday after Easter we find, in the 
service of the Mass, a still more lamentable departure 
from true Christian worship, when the Church ot 
Rome declares, that the offerings made to God at the 
Lord's Supper were made for the honour of the Vir- 
gin • "Having received, O Lord, these helps of our 
falvation, grant, we beseech Thee, that .*e may -be 
every where protected by the patronage of the blessed 
Mary, ever Virgin, in veneration op whom we have 
made these offerings to thy Majesty." 

On the octave of Easter, in the Secret at the Mass, 
the intercession of the Virgin is made to appear as 



On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 9 

essential a cause of our peace and blessedness as is the 
propitiation of Christ Jesus our Lord ; or rather 
the two are represented as joint concurrent causes, as 
though the office of our blessed Saviour Himself were 
confined to propitiation, and the office of intercession 
were assigned to the Virgin. " By thy propitia- 
tion, O Lord, and by the intercession of the 
blessed Mary, ever Virgin, may this offering be pro- 
fitable to us for our perpetual and present prosperity 
and peace." 

II. Of the second class, the Breviary abounds through- 
out with so great a variety of instances, as to make 
any selection difficult. These prayers are no longer ad- 
dressed to God Almighty, but are offered to the Virgin 
herself, imploring her to intercede for her worshippers, 
yet still asking nothing beyond her intercession. 

" Blessed Mother, Virgin undefiled, glorious Queen 
of heaven, intercede for us with the Lord V " Blessed 
Mother of God, Mary, perpetual Virgin, the Temple 
of the Lord, the Holy Place of the Holy Spirit, thou 
alone without example hast pleased our Lord Jesus 
Christ ; pray for the people, mediate for the clergy, 
intercede for the female sex who are under a vow 6 ." 
In the form of prayer called Litanise Lauritanse, be- 
tween the most solemn prayers addressed to the ever- 
blessed Trinit}', and to the " Lamb of God that taketh 
away the sin of the world," are inserted more than forty 
addresses to the Virgin, invoking her under as many 
varieties of title— " Holy Mother of God, Mirror of 
Justice, Cause of our joy, Mystical Rose, Tower of 
David, Tower of Ivory, House of Gold, Ark of the 
Covenant, Gate of Heaven, Refuge of Sinners, Queen 
of Angels, Queen of all Saints, &c. &c, pray for us 7 ." 

The following invocation seems to stand midway 
between these appeals to the Virgin merely for her 
intercession, and those prayers to her, which ask for 
blessings temporal and spiritual at her own hands. 



Autum. cxliv. 6 Vern. clxiii. 7 /Est. ccxxix. 



10 On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

"Hail, O Queen, Mother of Mercy, our Life, 
Sweetness, and Hope, hail ! To thee we sigh, groan- 
ing and weeping in this valley of tears. Come then, 
our Advocate, turn those compassionate eyes of thine 
on us; and after this exile, show to us Jesus, the 
blessed fruit of thy womb, O merciful, O pious, O 
sweet Virgin Mary." 

III. But, in the third place, we find in the itoman 
Ritual examples of prayer addressed directly to the 
Viroin. for benefits as her own gifts, both spiritual and 
temporal, without anv reference to her prayers and 
intercession. It is no reasonable defence of these 
prayers to affirm, that all intended in these forms is to 
ask" for her advocacy and intercession 8 : for the mass ot 
the people will not, do not, cannot, understand it in 
that lioht. That the people are led by these prayers 
to look for the blessings as her gifts, and at her own 
disposal, we shall have abundant evidence, when we 
examine, in the works of divines, and in the present 
practice of the people, the full extent to which the 
worship of the Virgin has reached. And can it be right 
and safe to lay such snares for the conscience _ It the 
Viro-in's prayers are the sole object of the petitioner s 
invocation, why, in the solemn services of the Church, 
is an example set him of prayers which make no allusion 
to her intercession, but ask of herself for her aid and 
blessing as directly and unequivocally as the sup- 
plications addressed to the supreme Being ask for 
his ? In an act, of all human acts the most solemn 
and holy, can recourse be had to such refined dis- 
tinctions and subtleties, without awful spiritual 
danger ? . 

Among a great variety of prayers of this class, we 
frequently find this supplication—" Deem me worthy 
to praise thee, O hallowed Virgin ! give me strength 
against thy enemies !" 

The following seems to rank among the most tavour- 

■ See Cardinal du Perron's « Replique a la Rep. du Roy de la 
G. Bretagne." Paris, 1620. p. 920. 



On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 11 

I ite addresses to the Virgin 9 — « Hail, Star of the Sea, 
and kind Mother of God, and ever Virgin ; Happy 
Gate of Heaven ! Do thou, taking that c Hail 5 from 
the mouth of Gabriel, changing the name of Eve, es- 
tablish us in peace. Do thou loose their bands for 
the accused,^ for the blind bring forth a light, drive 
away our evils, demand for us all good things. Show 
|i that thou art a mother ! Let Him who endured 
, for us to be thy son, through thee receive our prayers. 
O excellent Virgin ! meek among all, do thou make 

US MEEK AND CHASTE, FREED FROM FAULT , MAKE 

j oun life pure ; prepare for us a safe journey, that 

i| beholding Jesus, we may always rejoice together. 

| Praise be to God the Father, Glory to Christ most 
High, and to the Holy Ghost : one Honour to the 
Three. Amen," 

"Show that thou art a mother !" Can 
such a call upon the Virgin Mary, to show her in- 
fluence and power over the eternal Son of the eternal 
Father, be fitting in the hearts and in the mouths of 
us poor sinners, for whose salvation He left his Fa- 

! ther's glory, and came down on earth to die ? « Show 
thyself to be a mother/' In later times, some versions 
of this address have translated the passage as though 
the prayer to Mary was, that she would show herself 
to be our mother, by her maternal good offices in our 
behalf. We rejoice to see such indications of a feeling 
of impropriety in the sentiment, if received in its plain 
and obvious meaning : but the change is inadmissible, 
as not only doing violence to the sense, and militating 
against the whole drift and plain meaning of the 
passage, but being altogether at variance also with the 
interpretation put upon it by Roman Catholic writers, 
both before and after the Reformation. In the second 
line, the Virgin is addressed as the mother of God; 
the Lord Jesus is immediately mentioned in the very 
next line, and through the entire stanza as her Son, and 

9 Vera, cliii. 



12 On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

the prayer to her is, that she would so show the exer- 
cise of her maternal influence over that Being who 
endured to be her Son, as that He would hear the 
supplications of the worshippers. And this obvious 
Grammatical and logical meaning of " Show thyself 
to be a mother," is the sense attached to it before the 
Reformation, not incidentally, but of set purpose. In 
a work dedicated to the " Youth of Great Britain stu- 
dious of good morals," and written expressly for the 
purpose of explaining the Ritual according to the use 
of Sarum, the interpretation of the passage is thus 
expressed — " Show thyself to be a mother, that is, by 
appeasing thy Son, and let the Son, who endured 
for us miserable sinners to be thy Son, take our 
prayers through thee." Nor can any other meaning 
be attached to the interpretation of the words as given 
by Cardinal du Perron, in the work above referred to, 
than this, " Use the authority of a Mother over a Son." 

The other interpretation does not appear to have had a 
place in any one book of former days. In the plain obvi- 
ous sense of the prayer, we see in it, in softened colours, 
an exact prototype of Bonaventura's broad and shock- 
ing summons to the Virgin, to put forth her full ma- 
ternal authority, and to command the Lord of Life 

«BY THE RIGHT OF A M OTHER COMMAND THY 

Son," and of Damianus 10 , " Not only asking, but 
commanding; a mistress, not a hand-maid." To 
these and similar instances we shall hereafter refer. 

Another prayer in the authorized Ritual of Rome 
is thus expressed:— " Under thy protection we take 
refuge, Holy Mother of God ; despise not our sup- 
plications in our necessities, but from all dangers do 
thou deliver us, O glorious and blessed Virgin." 
JEst. cxlvi. 

10 Peter Damiani was a Bishop and Cardinal, whose works received 
the Papal sanction so late as the commencement of the seventeenth 
century, though he lived somecenturies before.— His words are " Non 
solum rogans sed imperans ; domina non ancilla." Paris, 1743, vol. 
ii. p. 107, ser. 44. Of Bonaventura we shall speak in the next number. 



On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 13 

Let us suppose the object of these addresses to be 
changed, and in place of the Virgin's, let the name of 
| the eternal Father of us all, the only God, the Al- 
I mighty One, be substituted, and we shall find the very 
I words here applied to the Virgin applied to Him 
in some of the most affecting prayers and praises 
in Holy Scripture. 

But another hymn in the same ritual, addressed in 
part to our blessed Saviour Himself, and in part to the 
Virgin Mary, seems a still more lamentable and re- 
| yoking departure from true Christian worship. In 
! this joint prayer, undoubtedly, glory is ascribed at its 
! close to the Holy Trinity/ yet in its supplicatory 
I sentences the Redeemer is merely asked to re- 
member his mortal birth; no blessing is petitioned 
i for at his hand ; his protection is not the subject of the 
prayer; deliverance at the hour of death is sought not 
from Him ; for these blessings supplication is made 
exclusively to the Virgin. Can such a mingled 
1 prayer, can such a contrast in prayer, be the genuine 
fruit of that Gospel, which invites and commands us 
to seek in prayer to God for all we need of temporal 
and eternal good in the name and for the sake of his 
blessed Son ? 

cs O Author of our salvation, remember that 
once being born of a spotless Virgin, Thou didst 
take the form of our body. O Mary, Mother of 
Grace, Mother of Mercy, do thou protect us from the 
enemy, and receive us at the hour of death. Glory 
to Thee, O Lord, who wast born of a Virgin with the 
Father and the Holy Spirit, through eternal ages. 
Amen." iEst. cxlv. 

It has been asserted by Roman Catholic writers 1 , 
that at the altar, in the office of the Mass, prayer is not 
made directly to any saint, but only obliquely, the 
address being always made to God. But while this 
assertion would suggest the most sound principle, that 
! a prayer which is not used in the service of the 

1 See Cardinal du Perron, agreeably to the former reference, 
[657] B 



14 On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Mass, and for the use of which in other services 
its absence from that office is pleaded as an excuse, 
ou<rht to have no place at all in the worship 
of Almio-hty God; it is difficult to see what is 
trained by such a plea, if in other parts of the ser- 
vice prayer is offered directly to the Virgin. Surely 
it is trifling in things concerning the soul to make such 
distinctions. If priests about to officiate are to address 
a prayer directlv to the Virgin for her assistance, 
that she would' stand by them, and by her grace 
enable them to offer a worthy sacrifice, how does this 
become a less objectionable prayer, because it is not 
repeated during the service of the mass ? Does not such 
a plea intimate a misgiving in those who make it, as to 
the lawfulness of any addresses of the kind. A he 
following is called in the Roman Breviary, " A Prayer 
to the Blessed Virgin Mary, before the celebration of 
the Mass." and is immediately followed by another, 
called, " A Prayer to the Male or Female Saint, 
whose feast is celebrated on that day," and from whose 
merits the priest professes to derive his confidence, 
and to whose honour and glory he declares that he 
offers the holy sacrament : 

" O Mother of pity and mercy, most blessed Vir- 
gin Mary, I, a miserable and unworthy sinner, flee 
to thee with my whole heart and affection : and A 
pray thy sweetest pity, that as thou didst stand by 
thy" sweetest Son upon the cross, so thou wouldest 
vouchsafe of thy clemency to stand by me a miserable 
Driest, and by all priests who here and m all the 
.holy Church offer him this day, that, aided by thy 
grace, we may be enabled to offer a worthy and 
acceptable victim in the sight of the Most High and 
undivided Trinity. Amen." ^ 

» O holy one [sancte vel sancta], behold, 1, a mis- 
erable sinner, deriving confidence from thy 
mfrits, now offer the most holy sacrament of the 
body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for thy 
honour and glory. I humbly and devoutly pray 



On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 15 

thee, that thou wouldest deign to intercede for me 
to-day?" &c. Hyem. ccxxxiii. 

IV. The fourth particular in the worship of the 
Virgin Mary which we specified, was the ascription of 
divine praises to her. This "ascription pervades ail 
the services appointed for her honour; and abundant 
examples are at hand. 

''The Holy Mother of God is exalted above the 
choir of angels to the heavenly realms. The gates 
of paradise are opened to us by thee, who, glorious 
this clay, triumphest with the angels." " Rejoice, O 
Virgin Mary, thou alone hast destroyed all heresies 
in the whole world. Deem me worthy to praise thee, 
hallowed Virgin. Give me strength against thy' ene- 
mies." iEst. dxcviii. 

Substitute the name of our ever-adorable Redeemer, 
and many of these expressions would become the 
heart and the lips of a Christian worshipper. We will 
only add one more instance : it is the prayer, the re- 
petition of which Pope Leo X. prescribes as the con- 
dition on which he three centuries ago (as we have 
observed in a previous part) granted pardon to any 
priest for defects and faults in celebrating divine ser- 
vice, contracted by human frailty. 

" To the most holy and undivided Trinity, to the 
manhood of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ, to the 
fruitful purity of the most blessed and most glorious 
ever Virgin Mary, and to the whole body of all the 
saints, be everlasting praise, honour, virtue, and 
glory from every creature, and to us forgiveness of 
sins through the boundless ages of ages. Amen." 

Thus to join the Holy Trinity with the Virgin Mary, 
and the entire aggregate of the saints in one and the 
same ascription of eternal praise, honour, and glory, 
(even by those who are aware of the assumed distinc- 
tion of dulia, hyperdulia, and latria,) must be re- 
garded as utterly subversive of primitive worship, re- 
pugnant to the plain sense of Scripture, and deroga- 
tory to the dignity and majesty of the Supreme 



16 On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Being;, who will not share his honour with another. 
The attempt to justify these joint ascriptions of praise 
and glory to the Creator and his creatures by such 
passages as Hebrews,, xii. 22, is nugatory; in the 
only point now under consideration, there is not the 
shadow of resemblance between the two cases. 

We said that in the midst of the praises ottered to 
the Virgin Mary, we find a share in the work of tie 
salvation of lost and ruined man from sin and death 
ascribed to her. In some instances this ascription is 
made in such a manner as to lead the unwary to form 
the same estimate of the debt of gratitude due from 
us to Mary, as that which is due to the Saviour Him- 
self: and "in such a manner, too, as to countenance 
and justify to the faithful that lamentable and shock- 
ino- union of the names « of Jesus and Mary, m the 
devotional exercises which are now prepared for the 
people. One example of this occurs in "the office 
of the Virgin" on Saturdays in the month of June. 
It purports to be from a sermon of S. Bernard Abbot. 
« Grievously, indeed, most dearly beloved, did one man 
and one woman injure us; but thanks be to > God, not 
the less bv ONE MAN AND ONE WOMAN are 
all things restored; and that not without great in- 
crease [usury] of grace." Here the restoration of man- 
kind from the danger and misery into which the tall bad 
plunged us, is just as much equally ascribed to our 
blessed Saviour and to Mary, as that fall itself is re- 
ferred equally to Adam and Eve. Mary is here repre- 
sented just as much our joint saviour with Christ, as Eve 
is regarded the joint source with Adam of our original 

Such being the result of our inquiries into the 
authorized and prescribed forms of public worship m 
the Church of Rome, can it be a matter of wonder 
that individuals, high in honour with that Churcn. 
and her accredited teachers, have carried on the same 
system of worship to far greater lengths.-' Ua- 
doubtedly the principle should be ever present to cm 



— ■ 



On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 17 

minds of fixing upon a Church itself only what is to 
be found in its canons, decrees, formularies, authorita- 
tive teaching, and acknowledged practices: and un- 
happily in the authorized and prescribed Liturgies 
of Rome we find far more than enough of that 
which directly contravenes the Gospel rule, and pri- 
mitive faith and worship, to compel all who adhere to 
Holy Scripture and the example of primitive times, to 
withhold their consent from her worship. But with this 
principle steadily before us, justice and prudence com- 
bined require us to trace for ourselvesthe practical work- 
ings of the whole system. And, indeed, the deplor- 
able excesses to which priests, bishops, cardinals, and 
canonized persons have run in the worship of the 
Virgin Mary, might well induce upright and en- 
lightened Roman Catholics to look anxiously for 
themselves to their principles, in order to determine, 
with tender caution, doubtless, and pious care, yet 
still with an eye bent on the truth, whether the cor- 
ruptions be not in the well-head; whether the 
stream be not already impregnated with the poison as 
it flows from the very fountain itself; whether the 
prayers authorized and directed to be offered to the 
Virgin in public worship, be not, in very truth, in op- 
position to the first principles of the Gospel, — faith 
in one God, the Giver of every good, and in one Me- 
diator and Intercessor between God and man, the 
Lord Jesus Himself alone, whose blood cleanseth from 
all sin ? in a word, to weigh well and reflect, whether 
all the aberrations of her children, in this department 
of religious duty, have not their prototypes in the 
ordinances, the injunctions, the precepts, and practical 
example of their Church itself. In point of princi- 
ple, it will be hard to find any of the most unequi- 
vocal ascriptions of divine worship made to the Virgin 
Mary by her most zealous votaries, for which those vo- 
taries would not be able to appeal, in justification, and 
that not without reason, to the authorized ritual of the 
Church of Rome. 



18 On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Before we proceed, as we shall do in the next num- 
ber, to an examination of the practical workings of the 
system, two considerations seem naturally to suggest 
themselves. 

First Were it really and bona fide intended that 
the invocation of the Virgin should be exclusively 
confined to requests that she would pray and inter- 
cede by prayer for her petitioners, why should language 
be addressed to her, which in its plain, obvious, gram- 
matical, and common-sense interpretation, conveys 
in form and substance divine prayers to her for be- 
nefits at her own disposal? . ' 

Secondly, Supposing it had been the intention ot 
the Church of Rome to instruct her members, when 
thev « suppliantlv invoke" the Virgin Mary, and 
have recourse to her aid, that they should offer to her 
direct and immediate prayers for temporal and spiritual 
blessings to be dispensed to mortals on earth, at her own 
will, and by her own authority and power, what words 
could that Church have prescribed to the petitioners, 
what expressions could have been put into their 
mouths, which would have conveyed that intention 
more explicitly and unequivocally than the very 
words themselves which have been sanctioned and pre- 
scribed ? 



Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM 



No. IX. 



ON THE 

WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN. 

PRACTICAL WORKING OF THE 
SYSTEM. 




LONDON: 

Printed for the 

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, 
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE ; 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 



[658] 



1846. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts form part of a series intended to be 
issued, on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. Thefollowing have already been published 

I, On the Supremacy of the Pope. 

II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

IV On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Old Testament against it. 

V On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the New Testament against it. 

VI Ox the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Primitive Church against it. 

VII On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it— 
[continued]. 

VIII. On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.— 
Doctrine and Authorized Services of the 
Church of Rome. 
IX. On the Worship of the Virgin.-Practical Work- 
ing of the System. 
X. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.— Evidenci 
of Holy Scripture against it. 
XL On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



On the Worship of the Virgin— Practical Working of 
the System. 

Few can be long engaged in any wide and varied 
inquiry into the actual state of the worship of the 
Virgin Mary in the Church of Rome, without being 
surprised at the mass of error and corruptions which 
presses itself into notice on every side. The extraor- 
dinary excesses to which the adoration of the Virgin 
has been carried, not by obscure individuals only, and 
the general body of her worshippers, but by cele- 
brated doctors, prelates, and canonized persons, seem 
to introduce us to another religion, for the very germ 
of which we search the Gospel in vain. 

If, indeed, we could regard such instances as we 
meet with of the worship of the Virgin in its most 
shocking forms, as marks of ages long passed away, 
and of times less enlightened than our own, we might 
draw a veil over them, rather than contemplate, in any 
persons calling themselves by the name of Christ, such 
departures from primitive faith and worship. But 
when we find the solemn addresses made to the peo- 
ple by present chief authorities in the Roman Church, 
and even the epistles of the Sovereign Pontiff him- 
self, countenancing and encouraging the same super- 
stitions, it becomes a duty in those who would rescue 
or preserve the truth from such corruptions, to lay 
bare the facts of the case without exaggeration or 
disguise. 

A 2 



4 On the Worship of the Virgin : 

There is, however, one feature in the Roman wor- 
ship of the Virgin, to which our thoughts will be espe- 
cially drawn by the examination on which we are now 
entering. Its direct tendency, as practically illustrated 
in the works of accredited divines of the Church of Rome, 
and in the devotional exercises prepared for the daily 
use of the people, is to make the Almighty Himself an 
object of fear, and the Virgin an object of dove; to 
invest Him, who is the Father of mercy and God ot 
all comfort, with unapproachable majesty and awe, and 
with the terrors of eternal justice; and then, in direct 
and striking contrast, to array Mary with mercy, and 
benignitv, and compassionate tenderness, and omni- 
potence in her love. But so far is our heavenly Father 
from terrifying us and repelling us from Himself by 
alarming representations of his overwhelming and 
unapproachable majesty, that his own word abounds 
with assurances and representations of a directly op- 
posite tenour: the Bible invites us to regard Him 
and to draw nigh to Him in full assurance ot faith, 
not only as a God of love, but as Love itself, and 
moreover, as exercising his feeling of love toward us 
individually. « The God of love shall be with you . 
« The Father Himself loveth you 2 ." " God is love . 
« In this was manifested the love of God towards us, 
because that God sent his only begotten Son into the 
world that we might live through Him." And so tar 
is the same holy Volume from suggesting to us tne 
necessity or expediency of our applying to some 
mediator and advocate, who " not uniting the divine 
with the human nature, as the Son of God and man 
-does in his person, but, being simply human, might 
more intimately sympathize with our weaknesses and 
wants," that it is impossible for language to express 
more strongly and plainly the entire completeness and 
.perfectness of our Divine Redeemer's advocacy and 

-'- 2 Cor.xiii. 11. 2 Jolln xvi.27- 

* 1 John iv. 8. 



Practical Working of the System. 5 

mediation, exclusive of all others. "If any man sin 
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ 
the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins 4 ." 
" He is able to save them to the uttermost that come 
unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make in- 
tercession for them 5 ." "If God be for us, who can 
be against us?" " He that spared not his own Son, 
but delivered Him up for us all/ how shall He not 
with Him also freely give us all things 6 ?" "Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the 
father m my name, He will give it you. Ask, and 
ye shall receive, that your joy may be full 7 ." " There 
is one God and one mediator between God and man, 
the man Christ Jesus 8 ." " I am the way, the truth,' 
and the life : no man cometh unto the Father, but 
by me 9 ." 

How entirely opposed to such blessed intimations 
as these, breathing the spirit that pervades the Scrip- 
tures throughout, are those doctrines which represent 
the Virgin Mary as the mediator through whom and 
by whom we must sue for the Divine clemency ; as 
the dispenser of all God's blessings and graces; as 
the sharer of God's kingdom, leaving to Him the 
department of vengeance, and taking mercy to her- 
self; as^ the fountain of pity, as the moderator of 
the Almighty's justice, and the appeaser of his wrath. 

" Compel God to have mercy upon sinners." " Show 
thyself to be a mother." " By thy right of mother, 
command thy Son." " Calm the rage of thv hea- 
venly husband." "If any one feels himself ag- 
grieved by the justice of God, let him appeal to 
Mary." " God is a God of vengeance, but thou, 
Mary, dost incline to be merciful." "Thou ap- 
proachest before ^ the golden altar of human recon- 
ciliation, not asking only, but commanding : a mis- 
tress, not a handmaid." 



6 Romans viii. 32. 
9 John xiv. 6. 



6 On the Worship of the Virgin i 

Now, in drawing attention to such results of the 
Romish system as these, which shock our feelings, 
and from which our reason turns away, while »e think 
of God's perfections, and the full atonement and all- 
powerful intercession of our blessed Redeemer, our 
object is not to fasten such sentiments on any pro- 
fessed Roman Catholic who may disavow them ; it is 
to impress on all persons some idea of the excess s 
into which even celebrated teachers are tempted to 
run, when once they allow the smallest inroad to be 
made upon the integrity of God's worship ;< and at the 
same time to caution our countrymen against encou- 
raging in any way that revival of the worship of the 
Vfmn, to promote which the highest authorities of the 
Church of Rome have lately expressed their anxiety. 
Though these excessive departures from Gospel 
truth and the primitive worship of one God through 
one Mediator, may be disowned by some who still pro- 
fess to be in communion with the Church of Rome 
yet, as we shall now see, they are the tenets of 1 ei 
Srief doctors, who though dead yet still ^ wi& 
authority, men who were raised to her highest d.gm- 
ties in their lifetime, and were so emnly enrolled 
among her canonized saints after death, and to whose 
words and actions appeals continue to be made a 
the present day. But even in their mildest and least 
startling forms, the doctrines and practices ot Kome 
in the worship of the Virgin are awfully dangerous, 
and well does it become every one who loves the 
truth insincerity to avoid whatever may even seem to 
countenance them. 

Before we proceed to ascertain from the testimony 
of men whose writings are in a measure stamped with 
authority, the actual doctrine and practice of the 
Church of Rome in the worship of the Virgin, one 
more of the many examples, meeting us on every 
5de, which characterize her public worship, seems to 
require some notice. The service adverted to appears 



Practical Working of the System. 7 

|j to take a sort of middle station between the enjoined 
formularies, and the devotions of individuals, or family 
worship. On the one hand it partakes too much of a 
public character to be viewed in the light of private 
religious exercises; on the other, not being found 
in the Breviary, it seems to be without that au- 
thority which would rank it among the liturgical 
offices of their Church. The service is per- 
formed with great ceremony in the churches; a 
priest presides ; the host is presented for the adora- 

| tion of the people, and a sermon is generally preached. 
The service is performed (in Paris, for example) every 

j evening through the month of May, and is celebrated 

I expressly in honour of the Virgin. For not only is 
the Saturday in every week (with some exceptions), 
dedicated to her, but in every year the month of 
May is called " Mary's month." Temporary altars 
are raised to her, surrounded by flowers and ever- 
greens, and adorned with garlands and drapery, her 

j image usually standing in a conspicuous place before 
the altar 10 . Societies or guilds are formed chiefly for 
the celebration of the Virgin's praises, who bear the 
chief parts in these religious festivities. A collection 
of religious poems used in the churches in Paris on 
these occasions is dedicated, " To the glory of Jesus 
and Mary V Many of its hymns are addressed ex- 
clusively to the Virgin without a shadow of reference 
either to the Son of God the only Saviour, or to the 
Almighty, who will not share his glory with another. 
The following is a literal translation of one of the 
hymns : — 

"Around the altars of Mary, Let us her children press. 

To that mother so endeared, Let us address the sweetest prayers. 

Let a lively and holy mirth Animate us on this holy day : 

10 The whole service painfully reminds us, that the Institution took 
its rise in the Floralia of Pagan Rome. 

1 Nouveau Recueii de Cantiques a l'usage des Confreries des Pa- 
roisses de Paris, 1839. 
i A 4 

i 



g On the Worship of the Virgin : 

There exists no sadness For a heart full of her love. 
Let us adorn her sanctuary with flowers; Let us deck her revered 
altars * 

Let us redouble our efforts to please her. Be this month consecrated 

to her. , . 

Let the perfume of these crowns Form a delicious incense. 

Which, ascending even to her throne, May carry to her both our hearts 

and our prayers. 
Let the holy name of Mary Be unto us a name of salvation ; 
Let our softened soul Ever pay to her a sweet tribute of love; 
Let us join the choir of angels The more to celebrate her beauty; 
And may our songs of praise Resound in eternity. , 
O holy Virgin ! O our mother ! Watch over us from the height or 

Heaven! 

And when from this sojourn of misery We present our prayers to you, 

O sweet, O divine Mary! Lend an ear to our sighs ; 

And after this life, Make us to taste of deathless pleasures 2 . 

It is lamentable to find among these hymns shock- 
ing proof that those corruptions of the faith which m 
former years, as we shall now see, drew the contrast 
in favour of the Virgin and against God, with refer- 
ence to the attribute of mercy, are adopted by her 
present worshippers. The hymn on the Assumption 
represents the Eternal Father as Mary's husband 
full of rage, who must be softened by her influence into 
tenderness towards her votaries. 

"Vouchsafe, Mary, 6n this day To hear our sighs, 

And second our desires. Vouchsafe, Mary, on this day 

To receive our incense, our love : 

Of thy heavenly husband calm the rage, _ 

Let Him show Himself kind To all those^that are thine : 

Of thy heavenly husband calm the rage 3 : 

Let his heart be softened towards us V 

The course of our argument now leads us to ex- 
amine the works of some among the canonized saints 
and acknowledged doctors of the Church of Rome. 



a The word here translated "rage" is in the original " courroux/* 
which, as lexicographers tell us, "breathes highly of vengeance or 
punishment." 

4 Page 183. 



Practical Working of the System. 9 

I 

Bonaventura. 

Among the most remarkable monuments of past 
years are the devotional works of Bonaventura; and 
it is difficult to conceive how any Church can give the 
impress of its own name and approval in a fuller or 
more unequivocal manner to the productions of any 
human being, than by the process adopted by the 
Church of Rome in stamping her authority on the 
| works of this her canonized saint. 

In the "Acta Sanctorum 5 ," Bonaventura is said 
to have been born in 1221, and to have died in 1274. 
i He was of the Franciscan order, and passed through 
all the degrees of ecclesiastical dignities, short only 
1 of the pontifical throne itself. Pope Clement IV. in 
1265 offered to him the Archbishopric of York, which 
he declined; but Gregory X. elevated him to the 
dignity of cardinal-bishop. More than two centuries 
after his death, his claims to canonization were urged 
( upon Sixtus IV., who pronounced him a saint in 1482. 
That Pope in his diploma declares that the proctor 
of the order of Minors had proved that the blessed 
Trinity testified to the fact of Bonaventura being a 
saint in Heaven; the Father proving it by the 
miracles wrought on him and by him, the Son by 
the wisdom of his doctrine, the Holy Spirit by the 
excellence of his life. The Pontiff then adds in his 
own words, " He so wrote on divine subjects, that the 
Holy Spirit seems to have spoken in him." 

This testimony of Sextus IV. is referred to by 
Pope Sextus V., who more than a century after 
the canonization of Bonaventura, and more than 
three centuries after his death, ordered his works 
to be "most carefully emendated 6 ." This Pope's 
decretal letter, 1588, pronounced Bonaventura to be 

5 Acta Sanctorum, Antwerp, 1723, July 14, pp. 811—823. 831. 
837. 

■ 6 The edition of Bonaventura's works here used was published at 
I Mentz in 1609 ; and the passages referred to occur in vol. vi. be- 
tween pp. 400 and 500. 



10 On the Worship of the Virgin : 

an acknowledged doctor of holy Church, and directed 
his authority to be cited in all places of education, 
and in all ecclesiastical discussions and studies. Ple- 
nary indulgence also is promised, in the same act, to 
all who assist at the mass on his feast in certain speci- 
fied places. In these documents Bonaventura is 
called the "Seraphic Doctor;" and it may be again 
asked whether it is possible for any human authority 
to give a more entire and unreserved sanction to the 
works of any human being than the Church of Rome 
has actually given to the works of Bonaventura? And 
what do these works present to us on the invocation 
and worship of the Virgin Mary ? 

Bonaventura! s Psalter. 

In the first place, taking every one of the hundred 
and fifty psalms singly, he so changes the commence- 
ment of each as to address them, not as the inspired 
Psalmist did to the Lord God Almighty, but to the 
Virgin Mary, interspersing in some cases much of his 
own composition, and then adding to each the " Gloria 
Patri." A few examples will suffice. 

In the 30th Psalm, " In Thee, O Lord, have I 
trusted, let me not be confounded for ever," &c, this 
Psalter of the Virgin substitutes these words :— 

"In thee, O Lady, have I trusted, let me not be 
confounded for ever ; in thy grace take me. 

" Thou art my fortitude and my refuge ; my conso- 
lation and my protection. 

" To thee," O Lady, have I cried while my heart 
was in heaviness ; and thou didst hear me from the top 
of the eternal hills. 

« Bring thou me out of the snare that they nave 
hid for me ; for thou art my succour. 

" Into thy hands, O Lady, I commend my spirit, 
my whole life and my last day." 

In Psalm 31 we read, "Blessed are they whose 
hearts love thee, O Virgin Mary; their sins shall 
be mercifully blotted out by thee." 



Practical Working of the System. 11 

In Psalm 35, " Incline thou the countenance of God 
upon us ; compel Him to have mercy upon sinners. 
O Lady, thy mercy is in the heaven, and thy grace is 
spread over the whole earth," 

In Psalm 67, instead of "Let God arise," &c. this 
Psalter has, " Let Mary arise, and let her enemies be 
scattered." 

In the opening of the 93rd Psalm there is what we 
cannot but regard as an impious and blasphemous 
comparison of the supreme God and the Virgin, draw- 
ing the contrast in favour of Mary and against God, 
in reference to the very attribute which in Him shines 
first and last and brightest — his eternal mercy. 

- c The Lord is a God of vengeance ; but thou, O 
Mother of Mercy, inclinest to be merciful." 

The penitential Psalm (129th) is thus addressed to 
Mary: 

"Out of the depths have I called to thee, O Lady: 
O Lady, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attent to 
the voice of my praise and glorifying: deliver me 
from the hands of my enemies ; confound their imagi- 
nations and attempts against me. Rescue me in the 
evil day, and in the day of death forget not my soul : 
carry me unto the haven of salvation : let my name 
be enrolled among the just." 

As the penitential Psalms were thus turned from 
Him to whom the inspired penman addressed them, so 
are his hymns of praise to God constrained through 
the same channel to flow to the Virgin. Thus in the 
48th Psalm we read : 

" Praise our Lady of Heaven ; glorify her in the 
highest. Praise her, all ye men and cattle, ye birds of 
the heaven and fishes of the sea. Praise her, sun and 
moon ; ye stars and circles of the planets. Praise her, 
Cherubim and Seraphim, thrones, dominions, and 
powers. Praise her, all ye legions of angels. Praise 
her, all ye orders of Spirits on high." 

The last sentence of the Psalm is thus perverted: 

« Let every thing that hath breath praise our Lady." 
a 6 



12 



On the Worship of the Virgin ; 



May God hasten the time when the only reading 
in Christendom shall again be in the words of the 
sweet Psalmist of Israel : 

" Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord !" 

For various examples of the same perversion of 
Holy Scripture, and of the miserable distortion of 
Christian Hymns (especially the Te Deum) and 
Creeds and Litanies, made by Bonaventura, substi- 
tuting as he does the Virgin Mary as the object of 
belief and prayer and praise for the only God and his 
only Son, we must refer to the work on the Catalogue 
of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 
" The Romish Worship of the Virgin." We would 
only remark, that in his unhallowed parody on the 
Athanasian Creed, the assumption of the Virgin 
into heaven, which is proved to have no foundation 
whatever in fact, is specified as one of the points to 
be believed on pain of forfeiting all hopes of salvation. 

At the close of one of his Canticles he thus ad- 
dresses the Virgin : 

" O thou blessed one, our salvation is placed in thy 
hands. Remember our poverty, O thou pious one. 
Whom thou wiliest, he shall be saved ; and he from 
whom thou turnest away thy countenance, goeth into 
destruction." 

In his Te Deum are these words : 

" O Lady, save thy people, that we may partake 
of the inheritance of thy Son ; 

" And govern us and guard us for ever. 

<c Vouchsafe, O sweet Mary, to keep us now and 
for ever without sin. 

" Have mercy upon us, O pious one, have mercy 
upon us. Let thy mercy be magnified upon us, be- 
cause in thee, O Virgin 'Mary, do we put our trust; 
in thee, sweet Mary, do we hope. Defend us for 
ever. Praise becomes thee. Empire becomes thee. 
To thee be virtue and glory for ever and ever. Amen." 

Can the most subtle refinement make this merely 
a request to her to pray for us ? 



Practical Working of the System. 13 

To this catalogue of prayers and praises we will 
only add the translation of one prayer more from the 
same canonized Saint. Its existence has been denied, 
but there it stands in his works, admitted as genuine 
by the Vatican editors. Vol. vi. p. 406. 

"Therefore, O Empress, and our most benign 

Lady, BY THE RIGHT OF A MOTHER COMMAND THY 

! most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, that He 
vouchsafe to raise our minds from the love of earthly 
things to heavenly desires, who liveth and reigneth." 
"Jure matris impera tuo dilectissimo filio." 
! If such a man as Bonaventura, one of the most 
learned and celebrated men of his age, could be 
j tempted by the seductive doctrine of the Roman 
| Church to employ such language, what can be fairly 
expected of the large mass of persons who find that 
language published to the world with the very highest 
sanction which their religion can give, as the produc- 
tion of a man whom the Almighty declared by miracles 
I to be a chosen vessel, and who was so under the guid- 
j ance of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit seemed 
to speak by him; and concerning whom they are taught, 
by the infallible 7 testimony of his canonization, that he 
is now reigning with Christ in heaven, and himself 
the lawful and appointed object of religious invoca- 
tion ? 

While the devotional works of Roman Catholic 
writers abound to the overflow with such miserable 
errors as these, the writings of their expositors and 
I accredited teachers are to the full as pregnant with 
the same lamentable departures from Christian truths. 
Referring for other examples to the work above-men- 
tioned, " The Romish Worship of the Virgin," we shall 
here confine ourselves to two authors, whose partial 
sameness of name has not unnaturally led to some 
confusion as to the writings of each. 

7 Cardinal Bellarmin, vol. ii. p. 871, states, that in the act of ca- 
I nonization the Church of Rome is infallible. 



14 On the V/orslvq) of the Virgin : 

Beimardinus De Bustis. 
Bernardinus, called from a place in the country of 
Milan, De Bustis, was the author of « The Office of 
the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin," 
which was confirmed by the bull of Sixtus IV., and 
has since been used on the 8th of December. ^ He 
composed various works in honour of the Virgin, to 
one of which he gave the title Mariale. In this work, 
among a great variety of sentiments of similar im- 
port, he thus expresses himself : 

" Of so great authority in the heavenly palace is 
that Empress, that, omitting all intermediate saints, 
we may appeal to her from every grievance. With 
confidence let every one appeal to her, whether he be 
aggrieved by the devil or by any tyrant, or by his own 
body, or by DIVINE JUSTICE." Then, having 
illustrated the three other sources of grievance, he 
proceeds:— " In the fourth place he may appeal to 
her, if any one feels himself aggrieved by the justice 
of God. * The Empress Esther was a figure of this 
Empress of the Heavens with whom God divided his 
kingdom. For whereas God has justice and mercy, lie 
retained justice to Himself, to be exercised in this 
world, and granted mercy to his mother ; and thus, if 
any one feels himself aggrieved in the court of God's 
justice, let him appeal to the court of mercy of his 
Mother 8 ." . . 

If we ^Yeigh the import of these words, is it 
any thing short of robbing the Eternal Father of 
his own eternal attribute, and sharing his glory 
with another? Is it not encouraging us to turn our 
eyes from the God of Mercy, as a stern and ruthless 
judge, and habitually to fix them on Mary, as the dis- 
penser of all we want for the comfort and happiness of 
our souls ? 

In another place this Bemardine thus exalts Mary: 
" Since the Virgin Mary is Mother of God, and God 

s Cologne, 1607, Part iii. Serm. ii. p. 176. 



Practical Working of the System. 15 

I is her Son, and every son is naturally inferior to his 
| mother, and the mother is preferred above and is 
1 superior to her son, it follows that the Blessed Virgin 

IS HERSELF SUPERIOR TO GOD, and GoD HlMSELF 

I is her subject by reason of the humanity derived 
from her," And again: "G the unspeakable dignity 
of Mary, who was worthy to command the Commander 

of ail 9 r 

We cannot pass on without translating one more 
passage from this famed doctor; it appears to rob 
God of his justice and power, as well as of his mercy, 
and to turn our eyes to Mary for the obtaining of 
all we can desire, and for safety from all we can 
dread. 

c ' We may say that the Blessed Virgin is Chancellor 
| in the Court of Heaven. For we see that in the 
Chancery of our Lord the Pope, three kinds of letters 
are granted : some are of simple justice, others are of 
pure grace, and the third mixed, combining- justice 

i and grace The third Chancellor is he to 

whom it appertains to give letters of pure grace and 
mercy. And this office hath the blessed Virgin, and 
therefore she is called the Mother of Grace and Mercy; 
but those letters of mercy she gives only in the present 
life ; for to some souls, as they are departing, she 
gives letters of pure grace ; to others, of simple justice ; 
and to others, mixed, namely, of justice and grace. 
For some have been very much devoted to her, and 
to them she gives letters of pure grace, by which she 
commands that glory be given to them without any 
fear of purgatory ; others are miserable sinners, not 
devoted to her, and to them she gives letters of simple 
justice, by which she commands that condign ven- 
geance be done upon them ; others were lukewarm 
and remiss in their devotion, and to them she gives 
letters both of justice and of grace, by which she 
commands that grace be given unto them, and yet on 

9 Part ix. Serm. ii. p. 605. Part xii. Serm. ii. p. 816. 



! 
I 
| 



16 On the Worship of the Virgin : 

account of their negligence and sloth some pain of pur- 
gatory be also inflicted on them V 

Bernardinus Sennensis. 

This Bernardine, distinguished as " of Sienna," was 
a canonized saint. A full account of his life, and of his 
enrolment by the Pope among the saints of heaven, is 
found in the " Acta Sanctorum," vol. v. May 20, the 
day especially dedicated to his honour. This Roman 
saint and doctor is explicit in maintaining that all the 
blessings which Christians can receive on earth are dis- 
pensed by Mary; that her princedom equals the Eter- 
nal Father's ; that all are her servants and subjects who 
are the servants and subjects of the Most High ; that 
all who adore the Son of God should adore his Virgin 
Mother ; and that the Virgin has repaid the Almighty 
for all that HE has done for the human race. Some 
of these doctrines are truly startling, and it is painful 
to rehearse them ; but it seems necessary to probe the 
evil. A few examples however will suffice : — 

" So many creatures do service to the glorious 
Mary as do service to the Trinity ; for He who is the 
Son of God and of the Blessed Virgin, wishing (so to 
speak) to make the princedom of his Mother equal in 
a manner to his Father's, He who was God served his 
Mother on earth. Moreover this is true^ all things, 
even the Virgin, are servants of the Divine empire ; 
and again this is true, all things, even God, are ser- 
vants of the Empire of the Virgin 2 ." " Therefore all 
the angelic spirits are the ministers and servants of 
this glorious Virgin 3 ." " To comprise all in a brief 
sentence, I have no doubt that God granted all the 
pardons and liberations in the Old Testament on ac- 
count of his love and reverence for this blessed maid, 
by which God pre-ordained from eternity that she 
should by predestination be honoured above all his 

1 Part xii. Serm. i. p. 825. 

2 Paris, 1636, vol. iv. Serm. v. c. \i. p. 118. 

3 Serm. Hi. c. iii. p. 104. 



Practical Working of the System. 17 

jj works. On account of the immense love of the Virgin, 

I Christ Himself, as well as the whole blessed Trinity, 
frequently grants pardon to the most wicked sinners V 
" By the law of succession and right of inheritance, 
the primacy and kingdom of the whole universe is due 
to the Blessed Virgin. Nay, when her only Son died 
on the cross, since He had no one on earth of right 
to succeed Him, his mother, by the laws of all, sue-' 
ceeded, and by this acquired the principality of all. . . 
But of the monarchy of the universe, Christ never made 

j any testamentary bequest, because that can never be 
done without prejudice to his mother. Moreover, He 

! knew that a mother can annul the will of her 
son, if it be made to the prejudice of herself 5 ." 

" The Virgin-mother, from the time she conceived 

i God, obtained a certain jurisdiction and authority in 
every temporal procession of the Holy Spirit, so that 
no creature could obtain any grace of virtue from God, 
except according to the dispensation of his Virgin- 

i mother. ... I fear not to say, that the Virgin has a 
certain jurisdiction over the flowing of all graces. And 
because she is the mother of such a Son of God, who 
produces the Holy Spirit, therefore all the gifts, graces, 
and virtues of the Holy Spirit are administered by the 
hands of HERSELF, to whom she will, when she 
will, how she will, and in what quantity she will 6 ." 

" She is the Queen of Mercy, the Temple of God, 
the habitation of the Holy Spirit, always sitting at the 
right hand of Christ in eternal glory ; therefore she is 
to be venerated, to be saluted, to be adored with the 
adoration of hyperdulia ; and she therefore sits at the 
right hand of the King, that as often as you adore 
Christ the King, you may adore also the mother of 
Christ." 

" The Blessed Virgin Mary has done more for God, 
or, so to speak, as much as God has done, for the 
whole human race. I verily believe that God will 
I excuse me, if I now speak for the Virgin. Let us, 

4 Serm.v. c. ii. p. 116. 5 Serm. v. c. vii. pp. 116. 118. 

6 Serm. v. c. viii.; and Serm. vi. c. ii. pp. 120. 122. 119. 121. 

i 



18 



On the Worship of the Virgin : 



then, gather into one heap what things God hath done 
for man ; and let us consider what satisfaction the 
Virgin Mary hath returned to the Lord." Bernardine 
then enumerates various particulars (many of which 
the ordinary feelings of reverence and delicacy forbid 
us to transfer into these pages), putting one against 
another, in a sort of debtor and creditor account, and 
then summing up the total thus : — 

" Therefore setting each individual thing one against 
another, namely, what things God hath done for man, 
and what things the Blessed Virgin has done for God, 
you will see that Mary has done more for God 
than God has for man ; so that thus, on account 
of the Blessed Virgin (whom, nevertheless He Himself 
made), God is, in a certain manner, under 

GREATER OBLIGATIONS TO US THAN WE ARE TO 

Him ! » 

These are not the sentiments of some ordinary 
writer, for the soundness of which the Church of Rome 
could not be held responsible ; they are the doctrines 
of one whom the Pope (Nicholas V.), in full conclave, 
enrolled among the saints of heaven, on the day of 
Pentecost, 1450, and that, as we are expressly told, 
to the joy of all Italy ! Pius II. said, ten years after- 
wards, that this Bernardine was taken for a saint, even 
in his lifetime ; and soon after the end of another ten 
years, Sextus IV. issued a bull, in which he extolled 
this saint, and authorized the removal of his body into 
a new church, dedicated, as others had been, to his 
honour; and he is now a lawful object of invocation 
himself to those who worship saints and the Virgin. 

Theophilus Raynaud. 

In bringing these references to a close, we cannot 
but invite especial attention to the work of Theophilus 
Raynaud, a Jesuit of Lyons, which supplies us with 
evidence as singular and curious as it is conclusive, on 
the enormous excesses to which the worship of the 
Virgin Mary has been carried in the Church of Rome. 
We have already intimated, that those excesses and 



Practical Working of the System. 19 

j extravagancies, when brought to light, exceed all that 
! we have been accustomed to meet with in books and 
in conversation. So revolting are many of them, that 
Romanist writers have not been wanting to regard the 
exposure and refutation of them as a pious work, due 
even to the Virgin herself, in order to preserve what 
they deem her legitimate worship from disparagement 
and ridicule. It is indeed curious to find these very 
writers, while they bring before us a mass of super- 
stition and idolatry and blasphemy, with the existence 
of which we might not otherwise have become ae~ 
quainted, and while they expose and reprove what they 
j call unwarrantable excesses in the votaries of Mary, 
I yet themselves supplying us with the strongest and 
! most convincing evidence of the deplorable extent to 
which, even with the countenance and support of their 
own arguments and their own example, the worship of 
the Virgin, in its most modified form, entrenches upon, 
the honour due to God only, and tempts Christians to 
I anchor on Mary that holy hope which should rest only 
I on Christ Himself. 

One of the professed principles of this work of Ray- 
naud, called Diptycha Mariana, is to reduce within 
reasonable bounds the worship of the Virgin, and to 
explode those excesses which, by exciting disgust or 
suspicion, might endanger what he maintains as her 
rightful praise and glory. But fearing lest his inten- 
tion should be misinterpreted, he makes first an explicit 
profession of his sense of the boundless merits of the 
Virgin, to express which he adopts the words of a 
I former writer. " The torrents of heaven, and the 
fountains of the great deep, I would rather open than 
close, in homage of the Virgin. And if her Son 
Jesus has omitted any thing as to the pre-eminence 
of the exaltation of his own mother, I, a servant, I, a 
slave, not indeed with effect, but with affection, would 
delight in filling it up. Verily I had rather have no 
j tongue, than say one word against our Lady ; I would 
! rather have no soul, than diminish aught of her glory 8 ." 
! 8 Lugduni, 1665, vol. vii. p. 4. 

9 



20 



On the Worship of the Virgin : 



Many of the dissertations examined by this author, 
on which men have dared to enter, as to the mystery 
of the incarnation of the Son of God, we cannot here 
quote, even to reprove them, without setting at nought 
both piety and delicacy. They warn us, at every step, 
to avoid all curiosity on such mysteries, and never to 
pry into those things which belong to the Lord our 
God. And of the many vain questions savouring of 
ensnaring superstition, we can refer only to a few. 
Among those numerous tenets which Raynaud records 
as having been maintained by the votaries of the 
Virgin, but which he discountenances himself, are 
these: — "That the Virgin had rescued and snatched 
some souls out of hell, that they might do penance 3 ." 
"That the very flesh of the Virgin is adored daily in 
the Church with supreme worship, and is a victim 
offered to God, for a sacrifice of sweet savour to the 
Lord, because her flesh is one with Christ's 1 ," and "is 
to be worshipped in the eucharist with the adoration 
of hyperdulia V " That, by reason of her maternity, 
the Virgin may be worshipped with the worship with 
which God is Himself worshipped — the adoration of 
latria 3 ;" and he tells us that both Suarez and Men- 
doza maintained this doctrine. 

He disapproves of the sentiment (a sentiment by no 
means confined to theauthor whom he cites, and whose 
works he says had immense circulation), that Christians 
love Christ on account of, and in consequence of, the 
love which they bear to his mother. He quotes this 
address to our Lord — " I love Thee, O Christ God, 
because of thy mother whom I love V 

St. Udeforisus, he tells us, "with a faithful pre- 
sumption and pious boldness," extended the power of 
the Virgin to' hell, saying that " she granted to the 
damned some remedy and refreshing, and freedom 
from the vexation of the devils, on the day of her 
Assumption \" 



9 P. 15. 1 P. 237. 2 P- 65. 3 P. 229. 

* P. 235. 5 P. 228. 



Practical Working of the System. 21 

One of the main objects of this member of the Col- 
| lege of Jesuits was to condemn what he deemed 
excessive and extravagant in the acts of worship and 
adoration which he witnessed in his predecessors or 
contemporaries; we must therefore infer, that while 
his own practice, at all events, did not exceed the 
average, it may fairly be supposed to fall below it. 
And what does he profess to allow or to maintain ? or 
what worship does he feel himself justified in offering 
to the Virgin ? Although many more passages are 
| at hand, we need quote only two, one which he calls 
| "a pious daily form of worshipping and religiously 
invoking the Blessed Virgin in private," supplied by 
I Richard of St. Lawrence ; the other the closing words 
of his work, in which he declares it to be his delight 
to address to the Virgin a hymn in imitation of the 
Te Deum. 

The first he thus explains : — " The will of the Son 
is, that we should bless his mother our Sovereign Lady 
! at all times, by night and by day, in prosperity and 
adversity; and that her praise should ever dwell in 
our heart and in our mouth, by meditating upon her, 
by praising her, by praying, blessing, and giving thanks 
to her, by preaching forth her greatness ; and that her 
praise should ever be as a curb in our jaws, curbing 
us in from the vices of the tongue. Wherefore she 

ALSO HERSELF PROMISES WITH HER SON, to him 

who praises her, ' with my praise will I curb thee, that 
thou perish not 6 / Also that thou mayest fulfil that 
Psalm, < All that is within me bless HER holy name V 
And daily are her [bodily] members to be individually 
blessed, that we may receive back a blessing to our 
members individually from her. In the same manner 
are her feet to be blessed, with which she carried the 
Lord ; the womb in which she carried Him ; the heart 
whence she courageously believed in Him and fervently 

; c Isaiah xlviii. 

! 7 Ps. cii. The word ' ejus ' is ambiguous; but the sense is fixed 
I by the ( ab ed ' in the next line. 



22 On the ff r orship of the Virgin : 

loved Him ; the breasts with which she gave Him suck; 
the hands with which she nourished Him; the mouth 
and tongue with which she gave to Him the happy kiss 
of our redemption ; the nostrils with which she smelled 
the sweet-smelling fragrance of his humanity ; the ears 
with which she listened with delight to his eloquence ; 
the eyes with which she devoutly looked upon Him ; 
the body and soul which Christ consecrated in her 
with every benediction. And these most sacred mem- 
bers must be saluted and blessed with all devotion, so 
that separate salutations must be addressed to the 
several members separately; that is to say, 6 Hail, 
Mary ! ' tw T o to the feet, one to the womb, one to the 
heart, two to the breasts, two to the hands, two to the 
mouth and tongue, two to the lips, two to the nostrils, 
two to the ears, two to the eyes, two to the soul ^ and 
body. And thus in all there are twenty salutations, 
which, after the manner of a daily payment, with sepa- 
rate and an equal number of kneelings, if it can 
be done, before her image or altar, are to be paid to 
the glorious Virgin, according to that Psalm, 6 Every 
day will I give thanks unto thee, and praise thy 
name for ever and ever V And as those persons say 
who have experienced it, and have heard it from holy 
men, scarcely can be found any other form of service 
which would so much please the Virgin, or from which 
so much devotion would flow back to those who love 
her. Likewise through all her members separately, 
after the kneeling, adoration, and salutation, this must 
be said, ' Sweet Lady, I adore and bless those most 
blessed feet, by which thou didst carry the Lord upon 
the earth ; I adore and bless that most blessed womb 
in which thou didst carry Him ;' and so to the other 
members and senses, commemorating their acts by 
which they served the Lord ; and this will devotion 
prescribe better than a discourse, grace better than 
writing V 



8 Ps. cxliv. 



9 P. 232. 



Practical Working of the System. 23 



This, be it remembered Is a branch of Mary's wor- 
I ship, approved and recommended by one whose pro- 
fessed object was to shorten and limit and purify her 
I worship, and reduce it within reasonable bounds. Can 
we any longer wonder at the dreadful blasphemies 
which meet us on every side, too dreadful many of 
them to be repeated, but still upon record? If one 
who reproves those that indulge in extravagant and 
excessive worship of the Virgin will himself calmly 
and deliberately sanction such condensed superstition 
] as the above service involves, what must have been 
l the extravagancies and excesses which he condemned? 
j Here the worshippers of the Virgin are directed to per- 
j form daily a peculiar service to her, in order that they 
I might fulfil the prophetic measure of the Psalmist's 
devotions, when he called upon his soul and all within 
him to bless God the Lord Jehovah ! Here it is de- 
clared that it was « Mary with her Son," who made 
that promise to her votaries of safety from destruction, 
| which promise, whatever it be, the inspired word of 
j truth declares to have been made not by Mary, but 
; by the Lord omnipotent. In the passage of "Isaiah 
containing the promise now ascribed to the Virgin first 
(though her Son is joined with her), God, the speaker 
and the promiser, announces Himself to be " the first 
and the last." The Bible declares the speaker to be 
God Almighty ; this writer substitutes Mary for God; 
and although her ever-blessed Son is named as joining 
in the promise, yet it is to the offering of praise 
to Mary and not to Christ, that the promise is applied 
j here. 

In his accommodation of the Te Deum to the Vir- 
gin Mary, Raynaud^ following the example of Bona- 
ventura, addresses to her these words : — 

" We praise thee, Queen of Heaven ; we honour 
thee, Sovereign Lady of the world. 

" All creatures of right praise thee, Mother of 
j immense splendour, Chamber of the Trinity most 
High, 

I 

s 



24 On the Worship of the Virgin : 

« Thou art the beloved daughter of the Eternal 
Father; thou art the Elect Mother of the Son of God, 
and also the Holy Bride of the Comforter. 

« Thee all angels obey. Thee the heavens of heavens 

love inestimably. . . 

« To thee Cherubim and Seraphim cry aloud with 
ineffable voice, < Hail, hail, hail, O Lady of Glory ; the 
heavens and earth are full of the sweetness of thy grace. 

" Thou art the Queen of the Apostles, thou the 
teaching of the Evangelists. Thee the praiseworthy 
company of the Prophets, thee the band of Patriarchs 

worship. , . , 

« Thou art the victory of martyrs, thou the glory 
of confessors. Thee the roses of Paradise, glorious 
virgins, praise ; as do the chaste in their choir, singing, 
< Hail, O sweetest Queen ; rejoice, O our most 
worthy Mother, who poorest grace upon the Saints, 
and deliverest souls from the depths.' 

« We sinners, therefore, beseech thee, O Mother ot 
God, help that people whom the precious blood ot thy 
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, redeemed. 

" Make us to be numbered with thy Saints in 

slorv most high. „ ■ . , i 1 

" Through thee may we, O holy Mother, be deemed 
worthy to be piously comforted. 

« Thou who art crowned with so many prerogatives 
of holiness in the glory of the Father, rejoicing by thy 
right of Mother in so many privileges of dignity, 
joy, rejoice, be glad, who art greater than all praise, 
O merciful, O pious, O sweet Virgin Mary. 
As his closing expression, the author says :— 
« May these be my words through the whole ot 
this life; and may I, with the holy angels, break forth 
into the same through all eternity." . 

And then adopting the words of Damiani, he adds, 
"I have treated concerning Christ; I have treated 
concerning his mother. Sweet is the Lord; sweet is 
the Lady : because He my God is my mercy, she my 
Lady is my gate of mercy. May the mother conduct 



i 



Practical Working of the System. 25 

; us to her Son, the daughter to the Father, the bride 
j to her husband, who is blessed for evermore. Amen \" 
Can any refinement take from these words the 
character of a direct prayer to the Virgin for benefits 
j in her power to bestow ? Can Raynaud's address be 
freed from an ascription of Divine attributes to Mary ? 
In the very words in which the Christian Church has 
been long wont to seek for God's mercy and to praise 
Him, does this author ask for the Virgin's help, and 
proclaim her praises ! 

And yet this is the worship offered to the Virgin by 
j one who puts himself forward as a pattern of modera- 
| tion and prudence in her worship. 66 Others among her 
I votaries," he says, " flew through the air, while he was 
contented to walk on foot as long as he remained on 
earth; others poured forth words like torrents in 
iier praise, he weighed his words in the balance of 
judgment." 

The writer's evidence is unexceptionable ; it cannot 
j be suspected, and it is conclusive. 

1 P. 240. 



[658] 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 

PRACTICAL WORKING OF THE SYSTEM. 
PART II. 

PRESENT SENTIMENTS AND PRACTICE 
IN THE CHURCH OF ROME. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



! 

Present Sentiments and Practice in the Church of 
I Rome. 

I It may, however, perhaps be surmised, that the 
authors above cited having lived so many years ago, 
the sentiments of those who profess the Roman faith 
irow have undergone many changes. Assurances 

i have, moreover, been given from time to time, that 
the invocation of the Virgin implies nothing more than 
a request that she would intercede with God for her 
supplicants, just as one Christian may ask a brother on 
earth to pray for him K We can, however, discover no 
satisfactory method of reconciling with this represen- 
tation the form of prayer and the sentiments which 
meet us on every side. We have already seen what 
the offices of the Virgin Mary in the Breviary and the 
Missal still contain. We find the same sentiments 
expressed towards her by the chief men in the 
Roman Church ; the same forms of devotion both in 
prayer and praise are provided for the use of indi- 
viduals in their daily exercises. Whatever meaning 
may possibly be attached to the expressions written 
or uttered (and surely in the most holy and solemn of 
all things, religious worship, it is dangerous and 
unjustifiable to employ one language for the ear and 

1 See Sermon by Dr. Baines at Bradford, July 27, 1825, p. 15. 



30 Present Sentiments and Practice 

eye, and another for the understanding and the heart), 
the prevailing expressions remain the same as we have 
found them to have been in past ages. 

At the head of these modern proofs we reasonably 
place the circular letter of the present Pope, ad- 
dressed to all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, 
and Bishops, through which the spirit of the Virgin's 
worship seems to diffuse itself in its full strength. 
When we refer his words to a test which has been al- 
ready applied to a similar case, it is difficult for us to 
see how the spirit of this Pontiff's sentiments falls m 
the least below the highest grade of religious worship. 
In the third paragraph of this letter we read these 

words 2 : , 

" But having at length taken possession of our see 
in the Lateran Basilic, according to the custom and 
institution of our predecessors, we turn to you without 
delay, venerable brethren, and in testimony of our 
feelings towards you, we select for the date of our 
letter this most joyful day on which we celebrate the 
festival of the most Blessed Virgin's triumphant as- 
sumption into heaven ; that she, who has been through 
every great calamity our patroness and protectress, 

MAY WATCH OVER US WRITING TO YOU, AND LEAD 
OUR MIND BY HER HEAVENLY INFLUENCE to those 

counsels which may prove most salutary to Christ's 
flock." 

Fer the name of the Virgin let us substitute the 
holiest name of all, and let us fix on Christmas day, or 
Easter, or Holy Thursday ; and what word, expres- 
sive of thankfulness for past mercies to the supreme 
Giver of all good, or of hope and trust in the 
guidance of the Spirit of counsel, and wisdom, and 
strength, who alone can order the wills and ways of 
men, might not a Christian pastor take from this de- 
claration of the present Pope, to use in its first and 

2 We adopt the translation of the letter as circulated in the 
Romanist Annual, called the " Laity's Directory," for the year 1833 



in the Church of Rome. 31 

natural sense, when he was speaking of the Lord God 
Almighty ? However direct and immediate the prayers 
of any supplicants may be to the Virgin for her pro- 
tection and defence from all dangers, spiritual and 
bodily, and for the guidance of their inmost thoughts 
in the right way, such petitioners to Mary would be 
sanctioned to the utmost by the principles and ex- 
amples of the present Roman Pontiff. 

The next example of the worship of the Virgin 
at this day to which we would refer, is that of a 
writer who was canonized by the present Pope so re- 
l| cently as the year 1839, Alphonso Liguori. He died 
j in 1787, and the Congregation of Kites at Rome 
pronounced his works un censurable, and Pope Pius 
VII. in 1803, approved of their sentence. In his 
works we find sentiments the same with those already 
cited from the Bernardines, Ronaventura, and others 
of former days, and which show that the worship of 
the Virgin is now what it was four or five centuries 
j ago. 

Alphonsus Liguori, in the estimation of Roman 
j Catholics, is an authority of no ordinary value. Dr. 
Wiseman speaks of him as a " venerable man," " a 
pattern and a light," " whose life and writings in- 
spire us," he says, " with an admiration scarcely sur- 
passed by that which we feel towards the early lights 
of the Church f and his work called, " The Glories 
of Mary," is recommended in Ireland as a manual 
for all the faithful. He must, therefore, be con- 
i sidered as speaking the sentiments, not only of the 
Court of Rome and of the Pope who canonized him, 
but also especially of the bishops and clergy of Rome 
ministering at present in these islands. The following 
passages, with numberless others of the same cha- 
racter, occur in that work 3 : — 

" If Ahasuerus heard the petition of Esther through 

j 3 " The Glories of Mary, mother of God, translated from the Italian 
■ of blessed Alphonso Liguori," Dublin, 1833. 



32 Present Sentiments and Practice 

love, will not God, who has an infinite love for Mary y 
fling away at her suit the thunderbolts which He was 
going to hurl on wretched sinners? . . . Indeed, every 
petition she offers is as a law emanating from the 
Lord, by which He obliges Himself to be merciful to 
those for whom she intercedes V 

" St. Anselm, to increase our confidence in Mary, 
assures us that our prayers will often be more 
speedily heard in invoking her name, than in call- 
ing on that of Jesus Christ 5 ." 

" Dispensatrix of the Divine grace, you save whom 
you please : to you, then, I commit myself, that the 
enemy may not destroy me V 

" We, Holy Virgin, hope for grace and salvation 
from you; and since you need but say the word, Ah ! 
do so," you shall be heard, and we shall be saved 7 ." 

The "searcher after truth on the subject of our 
present inquiry is often distressed on finding modern 
writers making reference to works which have been 
long since condemned as spurious, and citing them 
in evidence as genuine productions. But the most 
perplexing cases of all occur, when persons of note 
and authority cite the testimony of the ancient fathers 
without giving any clue to the passage in which the 
alleged testimony is contained. Of this, very striking 
instances occur in the works of Alphonsus Liguori, 
to a few of which it will not be out of place to point 
here. 

" Before Bonaventura, St. Ignatius had pronounced 
that a sinner can be saved only by having recourse 
to the Blessed Virgin, whose infinite mercy obtains 
salvation for those who would be condemned by in- 
finite justice. Some pretend that the text is not 
taken from Ignatius, but we know that St. Chrysos- 
tom attributes it to him s ." 

" With what efficacy, with what tender charity 
does not Mary plead our cause ! From the considera- 



* Pp. 16, 17. 5 P. 96. 6 P. 100. * P. 137. 8 P. 1^0. 



in the Church of Rome. 



S3 



tion thereof, St. Augustine says to her, c Men have 
but one sole advocate in heaven, and it is you, Holy 
Virgin V " 

" Poor sinners, how lamentable would be your lot, 
if you had not this powerful advocate ; this advocate 
so wise, so prudent, and so tender, that her Son can- 
not condemn those whom she defends 1 !" 

" The glorious St. Gratian affirms, that though we 
may ask as many graces as we please, we cannot ob- 
tain them but through the intercession of Mary. St. 
Antoninus says, 'To ask favours without interposing 
Mary, is to attempt to fly without wings V" 

"Mary," says St. Chrysostom, "has been elected 
from all eternity as mother of God, that she may save 
by her mercy those to whom her Son, in justice, can- 
not grant pardon V 

This book, " The Glories of Mary," was not 
written by a person living centuries ago, amidst those 
whose excesses Theophilus Raynaud wrote his book 
to check and discountenance; it contains the senti- 
ments of one who has been dead not sixty years, and 
to whose teaching the highest authority in the 
Church of Rome only seven years since set its seal 
by its most solemn act of all, even his canonization. 
And what is the doctrine here proclaimed and spread 
through the world ? That the mercy of Mary is 
infinite, and obtains salvation for those whom God in 
his infinite justice would condemn: that the Lord Jesus, 
whose own gracious lips assure us that the merciful 
Father of us all sent Him into the world not to con- 
demn the world, but that the world through Him 
might be saved, whatever be his will, cannot condemn 
those whom she defends: and though the Holy 
Scripture assures us that we have an advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is also the 
propitiation for our sins, yet here we are told that the 
Virgin is our sole advocate in heaven. Whereas the 



9 P. 170. 



1 P. 171. 



2 P. 154. 3 P. 179. 



34 



Present Sentiments and Practice 



Lord Himself declares, " Whatsoever ye shall ask in 
my name, that will I do f " Verily, verily, I say unto 
you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, 
He will give it yon 4 ;" this saint of the Roman Church 
tells us we may ask what we will, but that without 
Mary's intercession we can obtain no grace. The 
warrant of the heavenly covenant is, " that the blood 
of Christ cleanseth from all sin," and that " in Him we 
have redemption through his blood, even the for- 
giveness of our sins;" but here we are taught that 
Mary is to save by her mercy those to whom her 
Son cannot in justice grant pardon. 

These are, indeed, very startling positions, deplorable 
departures from the truth as it is in Jesus: and when we 
find an appeal made to St. Ignatius, St. Chrysostom, and 
St. Augustine, in defence of these doctrines, we can- 
not conceal our feelings of astonishment and sorrow. 
For the authorities here cited by Liguori most dili- 
gent search has been made, and not a trace of either 
of them can be found. In no one of the works of 
Ignatius can any allusion to such a position be dis- 
covered ; and though Liguori says, "We know that 
St. Chrysostom attributes the text to Ignatius, 
every other part of the writings of St. Chrysostom, 
as well as his biographical work on St. Ignatius, has 
been ransacked for any allusion to such a statement, 
but in vain. For the testimony also here directly 
drawn from St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, their 
works have been searched with unremitting scrutiny, 
but with the same result Not a shadow of any such 
doctrine can be detected. In neither of these, nor in 
St Ignatius, is there found any the most distant allu- 
sion to the mercv, the intercession, or the advocacy 
and saving power of Marv. Their uniform teaching 
is, that the Eternal Father is infinite in mercy, and 
will freely pardon believing penitents who come to 
Him by his ever-merciful Son. 



* John xiv. 13; xvi. 23. 



in the Church of Home. 35 

j We need add only a few more examples from de- 
votional books which are in use at the present day. 
Such examples might be multiplied exceedingly, but 
the subject is too painful for us to dwell longer upon 
it than the necessity of the truth requires. 

In the devotional work called " The New Month of 
I Mary," this prayer is offered to the Virgin : " O 
j most powerful, because most faithful of God's crea- 
tures, I presume to approach thee with a lively sen- 
j timent of my own unworthiness to address God, whose 
indignation I have so much deserved, and with a 
strong conviction in the efficacy of thy intercession 
i| with Jesus, thy Divine Son, who has placed in thy 
\ hands all power and strength. May these sentiments 
I always increase within me, that I may never presume, 

but PLACE ALL MY CONFIDENCE IN THEE." 

The " Hebdomas Mariana," a devotional work " for 
every day in the week, in honour of the most glorious 
Virgin Mother of God, in order to obtain the grace of 
a happy death," in the midst of many other prayers to 
the same effect, contains the following : 

" O Holy Mary, merciful Queen of Heaven, 
Daughter of God the Father, Mother of God the 
Son, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, Noble Couch of the 
whole Trinity; elected by the Father, preserved 
by the Son, loved by the Holy Ghost ; overshadowed 
by the Father, inhabited by the Son, filled with all 
grace by the Holy Ghost; through thee and for 
thee may I be blessed by God the Father, who cre- 
i ated me ; may I be blessed by God the Son, who re- 
j deemed me by his most precious blood ; may I be 
blessed by God the Holy Ghost, who sanctified me 
in baptism; and may the most sacred Trinity, through 
thy intercession, receive my soul at the hour of 
death." 

" O Holy Mary, Mother of our Redeemer, say at 
the hour of my death that thou art my mother, that I 
may be blessed, and that my soul may live for thee. 
' And if I shall be sent to that prison of burning until 



36 Present Sentiments and Practice 

I pay the last farthing, may thy mercy descend with 
me to refresh me in the flames, to solace me in my 
torments, that I may say, ' According to the multitude 
of my sorrows in my heart, may THY consolations re- 
joice my soul.' Thou, O Mother, then hasten to assist 
me : let not thy Son depart until He shall have blessed 
me, and remitted all my debts, because thou hast 
requested Him. Amen 5 ." 

The following is found among the prayers published 
for those who are admitted into the " Pious Con- 
federation of the Most Holy Mary, Mother of Provi- 
dence, the Auxiliatrix of Christians, canonically estab- 
lished at Rome 6 ." 

« O Mother of God, Most Holy Mary, how many 
times have I by my sins deserved hell! Already, 
perhaps, would the sentence on my first sin have been 
executed, if thou hadst not compassionately delayed 
the Divine justice ; and then overcoming my hardness, 
hadst drawn me to have confidence in thee. And O ! 
into how many crimes, perhaps, should I have fallen 
in the dangers which have happened to me, it thou, 
affectionate Mother, hadst not preserved me with the 
grace which thou hadst obtained for me." 

In a work entitled " The Imitation of the Blessed 
Virgin," London, 1816, we read the following prayer 
to the Virgin. It is stained by the error with which 
our inquiries have already made us but too familiar, 
of contrasting the justice and stern dealing even of the 
Saviour Himself with the mercy, and loving-kindness, 
and fellow-feeling of Mary ; making God an object ot 
fear, Mary an object of love. _ 

« Mother of my Redeemer, O Mary ; in the last 
moments of my life, I implore thy assistance with 
more earnestness than ever. I find myselt, as it were, 
placed between heaven and hell. Alas ! what will be- 
come of me, if thou do not exert in my behalf thy 
powerful influence with Jesus ? .... I die with 
submission, because Jesus has ordained it; but 

5 Pp. 13, 14.— Rome, with permission, 1835. 6 Pp. 3, 4. 



in the Church of Rome. 



37 



notwithstanding* the natural horror which I have of 
death, I die with pleasure, because I die under thy 
protection." 

In the following passage 7 how unworthy of the 
Christian faith is the thought, that we must pay reve- 
rence to one saint in order to gratify and propitiate 
another ! Joseph must be especially honoured, in 
order to do what is acceptable to Mary, and con- 
ciliate Mary to ourselves. And how miserable is the 
expedient of attempting to give an appearance of 
Scriptural sanction by quoting King Pharaoh's di- 
rection to his starving subjects, to apply to Joseph, 
Jacob's son, for food in Egypt, when the unscriptural 
doctrine is urged of applying to Joseph, Mary's hus- 
band, for his intercession in heaven ! 

" It is giving to the Blessed Virgin a testimony of 
love particularly dear and precious to her, to make 
her holy spouse Joseph the first object of our devotion 
next to that which consecrates us to her service. The 
name of Joseph is invoked with singular devotion by 
all the true faithful. They frequently join it with the 
sacred names of Jesus and Mary, Whilst Jesus and 
Mary lived at Nazareth, if we had wished to obtain 
some favour from THEM, could we have employed a 
more powerful protector than St. Joseph ? Will he now 
have less power and credit ? GO THEREFORE TO 
JOSEPH, Gen. xli. 55, that he may intercede for you. 
Whatever favour you ask, God will grant it you at his 

request Go to Joseph in all your necessities ; 

but especially to obtain the grace of a happy death. 
The general opinion that he died in the arms of Jesus 
and Mary has inspired the faithful with great confi- 
dence, that through his intercession they will have an 
end as happy and consoling as his. In effect, it has 
been remarked, that it is particularly at the hour of 
death that those who have during their life been care- 
ful to honour this great saint, reap the fruit of their 
devotion." 

: 7 Chap. xiii. p. 344 ; xiv. p. 347- 



38 Present Sentiments and Practice 

In the « Little Testament of the Holy Virgin 3 , "we 
find, among other devotional addresses, « A Prayer to 
the Blessed Virgin." Can any words place on an en- 
tire level with each other the Eternal Son ot (jocl 
and the Virgin ? We can only quote a few passages. 

« O Mary, what would be our poverty and misery, 
if the Father of Mercies had not drawn you from his 
treasury to give you to earth ! O my Life and Con- 
solation, I trust and confide in your holy name. . . . 
At the name of Mary my hope shall be enlightened, 
my love inflamed. Oh that I could deeply engrave 
the dear name, on every heart, suggest it to every 
tongue, and make all celebrate it with me Mary ! 
sacred name under which no one should despair. 
Mary ! it shall be life, my strength, my comfort. 
Every day shall I invoke it AND the divine 
name of Jesus. The Son will awake the recol- 
lection of the Mother, and the Mother that of the 
Son. Jesus and Mary ! this is what my heart shall 
say at the last hour, if my tongue cannot : I shall hear 
them on my death-bed; they shall be wafted on mv 
expiring breath, and I with them, to see THEM, 
know THEM, bless and love THEM for eternity. 
Amen." 

When we read in the works of different ages and of 
distant countries such tenets as these, expressed in the 
solemn act of prayer :— . . 

That the sentence on our sins might have been 
executed by our all-merciful Father, if Mary had not 
stayed the Divine justice ; - a 

That the Holy Spirit might have suffered us to fall 
into sins, had not Mary preserved us from falling ; 

That our prayers may be more speedily heard, 
when we invoke Mary's name, than when we call on 

the Lord Jesus ; . , , 

That she is the way through which alone we can go 



8 Dublin, 1836, p. 46. 



in the Church of Rome. 39 

| to Jesus, and the only channel through which Divine 
j grace can reach our souls ; 

That when our sins make us unworthy or afraid to 
address God, we are to approach Mary, and place our 
| entire hope and confidence in her; 

That God, for the infinite love He has to Mary 5 
will fling away at her suit the thunderbolt which He 
was on the point of hurling on wretched sinners ; 

That when the eternal and omnipotent Judge of all 
the earth, who cannot but do right, wishes to con- 

j DEMN THE GUILTY, MARY KNOWS HOW TO PREVENT 
| THE EXECUTION OF THE SENTENCE ; 

That the self-condemned sinner finding death to be 
j at hand, and feeling himself to be placed between 
; heaven and hell, meets death with submission, because 
i God has ordained it, but despite of the natural horror 
of death, will die with pleasure because he dies under 
Mary's protection ; — 

When w T e find these, and unnumbered other senti- 
j ments of the same force and bearing, we are con- 
strained to say, can the religion which sanctions and 
prescribes these things be the Christian religion ? the 
religion which the one Mediator brought down with 
Him from the eternal and only God in heaven ? In 
these sentiments we hear no sound of the Gospel of 
the Lord Jesus; in these representations we see no 
sign of that Lamb of God whose blood cleanseth from 
all sin, and who for the great love wherewith He loved 
us, is gone before to prepare a place for us to be with 
Himself in glory for ever. 

Let, moreover, every refinement of distinction be 
applied between the honour due to God and the 
honour paid to the Virgin ; between the advocacy of 
Christ and the intercession of Mary ; between prayers 
direct and prayers oblique (as they have been called); 
between the hope and confidence which the Apostles, 
both by their example and teaching, bid the faithful 
j Christian rest on God's mercy in Jesus Christ, and the 
hope and confidence which the canonized saints, and 
! the doctors, and Popes of the Church of Rome profess 

I 



40 Present Sentiments and Practice, §r. 

to place, and teacli their people to place, in the 
power and mercy of Mary; let every explanation 
which ingenuity can devise be applied here, and 
still the practical result of the whole is a tendency 
to dispossess our Saviour of his functions of saving 
and redeeming lost mankind, and to leave to 
Him onlv the severe and unapproachable character of 
a iudcce; to wean our affections from God, and nx 
them on Mary; to make our personal application to 
ourselves of his merits and atonement (whereby alone 
we can stand in the place of sons, and realize the 
spirit of adoption) dependent on her intercession;, 
to represent all the blessings and graces of the Holy 
Spirit as shut up in a sealed fountain till her benign 
and divine influence open it, and convey through her- 
self such portions of the heavenly treasure as she wills 
to those who have, by devotion to her, secured her 
omnipotent patronage; to tempt believers to regard 
Mary as the way, and God in Christ as the troth and 
the life approachable only by that way;-in a word, 
to hold forth the Lord God of heaven, the gracious, 
merciful, loving Father, as an object of awe and terror 
as the inflexible dispenser of Divine justice, (inflexible 
except when his love for Mary bends Him to be mer- 
ciful to her votaries for her sake) ; and thus, though 
not confessedly and theoretically, perhaps, yet m very 
and practical truth, to make Mary the nearest and 
dearest object of a Christian's love. _ 
But what saith the Scripture to these things i 



GlLE 



ert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



No. X. 



ON THE 

WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MARY. 

EVIDENCE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 
AGAINST IT. 




LONDON: 

Printed for the 

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

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GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
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[659] 1846. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts form part of a series intended to be 
issued on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published :— 

. ■ - - ' " I 

I On the Supremacy of the Pope. 

II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 
III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. a 
IV On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Old Testament against it. 

V On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the New Testament against it. 

VI On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Primitive Church against it. 

VII On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.-Evi- 

' DENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AGAINST IT-^- 

tinued], 

VIII On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.- 
Doctrine and Authorized Services of thf 
Church of Rome. 
IX. On the Worship of the Virgin.— Practical Work 

ing of the System.' 
X On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.-Evidenci 

of Holy Scripture against it. 
XI. On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



| Oft Worship of the Virgin Mary. — Evidence of 
Holy Scripture against it. 

On the principles by which persons, honestly search- 
ing for the truth, should be guided in their pursuit, we 
spoke in a former number, when we were inquiring 
into the evidence of Holy Scripture on the Invocation 

| of Saints and Angels. In this place it will be enough 
to repeat generally the conclusions on the subject 

j before us, to which a careful study of the Word of 
God cannot but lead. 

If, then, there is one paramount and pervading 
principle more characteristic of Revelation than any 
other, it seems to be the preservation of a practical 
belief in the perfect unity of God, and the fencing of 
his worship against the admixture of any other, what- 
ever be its character or form : it is the announcement 
that the Creator and Governor of the universe is the sole 

: giver of every temporal and spiritual blessing, the one 
only Being to whom his creatures should pay any 
religious service whatever, the one only Being to whom 
mortals must apply, by prayer and invocation, for the 
supply of any of their wants. And to this principle 
the New Testament has added another equally essen- 
tial, that there is one, and only one, Mediator between 

j God and man, through whom every blessing must be 

a 2 



4 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

sought and obtained, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is 

ever making intercession for us. 

Through the entire Bible, the exclusive worship 
of God alone is insisted upon, and guarded with the 
utmost jealousy, by assurances, by threats, and by 
promises, as the God who heareth prayer, alone to be 
called upon, alone to be invoked, alone to be adored. 
Recourse is had (if we may so speak) to every expe- 
dient, for the express purpose of protecting the 
sons and daughters of Adam from the fatal error ot 
embracing in their worship any other being or name 
whatever, or of seeking from any other than the one 
Supreme God the supply of their wants; not reserving 
supreme and direct adoration and prayer to Him, and 
allowing some subordinate worship, some indirect and 
inferior kind of invocation to be offered to his crea- 
tures, even the most exalted among them, but ba- 
nishing at once and for ever, the most distant approxi- 
mation towards prayer and religious honour, and ex- 
cluding with uncompromising universality, the veriest 
shadow of spiritual invocation to any other being 
than the Most High, God Himself alone. # 

With regard to the Gospel doctrine of the mediation 
of Christ, we read, without any qualifying, or limiting, 
m excepting expression whatever, these truths: " There 
Is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, 
the man Christ Jesus 1 ." "He is able also to save to the 
uttermost them who come unto God by him, seeing he 
ever liveth to make intercession for them':" nay, the 
mouth of Him who spake as never man spake, thus so- 
lemnly and graciously announces the completeness of 
his own mediation, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, what- 
soeverye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give 
it you 3 ." Many pages might be added to the same effect. 
One Mediator has been revealed in his person and in 
his office, and He is expressly declared to be the one 
only Mediator between God and men ; we therefore 
seek God's covenanted mercies through Him. 

*J j Tim. ii. 5. 2 Heb. vii. 25. 3 John xvi. 23. 



Evidence of Holy Scripture against it. 5 

! But (it will be asked) is the mediatorship of the Son 
j of God exclusive of all other mediators in heaven ? 

May there not be other mediators of intercession as well 
I as that one Mediator of redemption ? We answer, 
! What might have been man's duty, had the Almighty 
I been pleased to give another revelation for man's 
guidance, is not the question ; in the revelation which 
He has given, we find mention made only of one 
Mediator. And if it had been his will, that we 
should approach the throne of mercy through anjr 
j secondary or subsidiary mediators and intercessors, 
our confidence in his mercy would teach us to expect 
' a revelation of that will as clear and unquestionable 
i as the revelation which we know He has vouchsafed 
of the mediation and intercession of his blessed Son. 
His own revealed will directs us to pray for our 
fellow-creatures on earth, and to expect spiritual 
benefits from the prayers made on our behalf by 
the faithful on earth through that Mediator. To 
I pray for them, therefore, and to seek their prayers, and 
to wait patiently for a gracious answer, are acts of 
faith and of duty. But that He will favourably answer 
the prayers w 7 hich we might supplicate others as our 
intercessors in the unseen world to offer, or which 
we might offer to Himself through their merits, and 
by their mediation, is nowhere revealed. On the 
contrary, we find no single act, no single word, nothing- 
which even by implication can be forced to sanction 
any prayer or religious invocation of any kind to any 
other than God Himself alone ; or any reliance what- 
I ever on the mediation or intercession of any being in 
the unseen world, save only our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. 

But is not that Mediator's holy mother an excep- 
tion ? Does not Scripture lead us to infer that the 
blessed Virgin has great influence and power? May 
not her intercession and mediation, and her kind 
| offices be sought in prayer addressed to her? We 
l answer, that we can find no trace or intimation of 



6 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

any thing of the kind; on the contrary, the evidence 
of Holy Scripture is not merely negative on this 
point, but it is decided and conclusive against any such 
doctrine and practice. 

THE OLD TESTAMENT, 

The first intimation given to us that a woman was, 
in the providence of God, appointed to be the instru- 
ment or channel through which the Saviour of mankind 
should be brought into the world, was made immedi- 
ately after the fall, and at the very first dawn of the 
day of our salvation. The authorized English version 
renders the passage thus : " I will put enmity between 
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her 
seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise 
his heel 4 ." Instead of the word " it," the Roman 
Vulgate reads « she ;" the Greek Septuagint trans- 
lates it "he." But whichever of the renderings of 
the Hebrew word be correct, for our present purpose 
it matters little. Whether the word originally dictated 
by the Holy Spirit to Moses, be so translated as to 
refer to the seed of the woman generally, or to the 
male child the descendant of the woman, or to the 
« woman," be this as it may, no Christian can doubt, 
that it was ordained in the counsels of the Eter- 
nal Godhead, that the Messiah, the Redeemer 
of mankind, should be born of a virgin, and 
that in the mystery of that incarnation the serpent s 
head should be bruised. Equally indisputable is it, that 
this prophetic announcement was in progress towards 
its final accomplishment when the Lord Jesus Christ 
was born of the Virgin Mary. 

The only other reference made in the Old 1 esta- 
ment to the mother of our Lord, seems to be the 
celebrated prophecy of Isaiah, about which, probably, 
no controversy can arise affecting the question before 



* Gen. iii. 15. 



Evidence of Holy Scripture against it. 7" 

us : 4C A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall 
call his name Emmanuel V 

To the many applications of other passages of the 
Old Testament to the Virgin Mary (however objec- 
tionable and unjustifiable they are), which are made 
both in the authorized services of the Church of Rome 
and in manuals of private devotion, we need not here 
refer, because they can never be cited in argument* 
Such, for example, are the addresses of the bride in 
the Song of Solomon, and that prophecy of the queen 
in the 45th Psalm, which has been of late applied 
to the Virgin as the Queen of Heaven 6 . The 
praise of wisdom, in the apocryphal book of Eccle- 
siasticus, is in the same manner applied to the Virgin. 
But through the Old Testament we find no passage 
which can by any, however circuitous or inferential, ap- 
plication be brought to countenance the doctrine, that 
Mary is a proper object of religious invocation. 

THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

In the New Testament, mention by name is made 
of the Virgin Mary by St. Matthew, St. Mark, and 
St. Luke, and also, though not by name, yet as the 
mother of the Lord, by St. John in his Gospel, and by 
no other of the sacred writers. Neither does St. Paul, 
in any one of his various Epistles, though he mentions 
by name many of our Lord's disciples, nor St. James 
nor St. Peter, who must often have seen the Virgin 
Mary during our Lord's ministry, and after his return 
to his Father, nor St. Jude, mention her as living, or 
allude to her as dead; nor St. John, though, as his own 
Gospel teaches us, she had been committed to his 
care of especial trust, in either of his three Epistles, 
or in the Revelation, refer to the Virgin Mary. 

The first occasion on which, in the New Testament, 



5 Isaiah vii. 14. 6 Manual of the Living Rosary. 

A 4 



8 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

any reference is made to the Virgin Mary, is the salu- 
tation of the angel, recorded in the opening chapter 
of St. Luke's Gospel; the last occasion 7 is, when she 
is mentioned by the same Evangelist as " Mary, the 
mother of Jesus," in. conjunction with the brethren of 
our Lord, and with the Apostles, and " the women," all 
continuing in prayer and supplication, immediately 
after Christ's ascension. Between these two events 
the name of Mary occurs under a variety of circum- 
stances, on every one of which we shall do well to 
reflect. 

On the first occasion (The Salutation), the angel an- 
nounces to Mary that she should become the mother 
of the Son of God. Doubtless, no daughter of Eve 
was ever so distinguished among women ; and well 
does it become us to cherish her memory with affec- 
tionate reverence. The words then addressed to her 
on earth, with a change of expression, which many 
critics pronounce to be inadmissible, and to convey 
a meaning not warranted by the original, are daily 
addressed to her by the Roman Catholic Church, now 
that she is removed to the invisible world: "Hail, 
thou that art highly favoured [the Roman or Italian 
version renders it, " full of grace "] : the Lord is with 
thee. Blessed art thou among women." On the 
substitution of the phrase "full of grace," for "highly 
favoured," or, as our margin suggests, "graciously ac- 
cepted," or " much graced," little need be said. It is to 
be regretted at all events that, since the Greek words 
are different here and in the first chapter of St. John, 
where the words "full of grace " are applied to the 
only Son of God, a similar distinction has not been 
preserved in the Roman translation. 

The other expression, "Blessed art thou among 
women," is precisely the same with the ascription o£ 
blessedness made by an inspired tongue to another 
daughter of Eve, " Blessed above women 8 f or (as 



7 Acts iv. 13, 14. 



s Judges v, 24. 



Evidence of Holy Scripture against it. 9 

both the Septuagint and the Roman translations render 
the word), " Blessed among women shall Jael, the wife 
of Heber the Kenite, be." And in such ascription of 
blessedness, we see no ground of justification for the 
worship of the Virgin Mary. 

The same observation applies, with equal strictness, to 
that affecting interview between Mary and her cousin, 
when Elizabeth, enlightened doubtless by an especial 
revelation, returned the salutation of Mary, by ad- 
dressing her as the mother of her Lord, and hailing 
her visit as an instance of most condescending and 
welcome kindness : " Whence is this to me, that the 
mother of my Lord should come unto me 9 ?" Mem- 
bers of the Church of England are taught to regard 
this event in Mary's life with feelings of delight and 
gratitude. It was on this occasion that she uttered 
the beautiful hymn, "The Song of the blessed Virgin 
Mary," which our Church has selected for daily use at 
evening prayer. 

These incidents bring before our minds the image 
of a pure virgin, humble, pious, obedient, holy ; a 
chosen servant of God; an exalted pattern for her 
fellow-creatures ; but still a fellow-creature, and a 
fellow-servant ; a Virgin pronounced by an angel to be 
blessed. But further than this we cannot go, because 
further than this the Scripture does not lead us by 
the hand. We read of no power, no authority (nei- 
ther the office and influence of intercession, nor the 
authority and right to command) being ever com- 
mitted to her, and we dare not of our own minds ven- 
ture to take for granted, and as the truth, a statement 
of so vast a magnitude, involving associations so awful. 
We reverence her memory as a holy and highly 
favoured daughter of Eve, the Virgin-mother of our 
Lord. We cannot supplicate any blessing at her 
hand ; we dare not pray to her for her intercession. 

The angel's announcement to Joseph, whether be- 



9 Luke i. 43. 
A 5 



10 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

fore or after the birth of Christ, the visit of the Magi, 
the flight into Egypt and the return thence, m the re- 
*»d of all which events by St. Matthew the name of 
Marv occurs, seem to require no especial attention with 
reference to the immediate subject of our inquiry, 
however important in themselves and interesting these 
events are. To Joseph the angel speaks of the Virgin 
as « Mary thy wife." In every other of those cases 
she is called, "the young Child's mother," or "his 

p°fai Gelatin? the circumstances of Christ's birth, the 
evangelist employs no words which call for any parti- 
cular examination. Joseph went up into the city of 
David to be taxed, with Mary his espoused wife ; 
and there she brought forth her first-born Son, and 
wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him m a 
manger. And the shepherds found Mary and Joseph, 
and the Babe lying in a manger. And Mary kept 
all these things and pondered them in her heart. 

Between the birth of Christ, and the flight of the 
holy family into Egypt, St. Luke records an event to 
have happened by no means unimportant— the pre- 
sentation of Christ in the Temple. " And when the 
days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, 
were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, 
to present him to the Lord 1 ." And Simeon "came 
by the Spirit into the Temple ; and when the parents 
brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the 
custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, 
and blessed God, and said, Lord," &c. " And Joseph 
and his mother marvelled at those things which were 
spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said 
onto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for 
the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and tor a 
si™ which shall be spoken against (yea, a sword shall 
piss through thy own soul also), that the thoughts of 
many hearts may be revealed." In this incident it is 



i Luke ii. 23. 



Evidence of Holy Scripture against it. 11 

j worthy of remark, that Joseph and Mary are both 
mentioned by name, that they are both called the 

1 parents of the child Jesus, that both are equally 
blessed, by Simeon, and that the good old Israelite, 
illuminated by the Spirit of prophecy, when headdresses 
himself immediately to Mary, speaks only of her fu- 
ture trials and sorrows, and does not even remotely or 
faintly allude to any exaltation of her above the other 

I daughters of Abraham, " A sword shall pierce through 
thine own soul also V 

The next occasion on which the name of the Virgin 
Mary is found in Scripture, is the memorable visit of 

ij her husband, herself, and her Son, to Jerusalem, when 

i He was twelve years old. The manner in which this 

! incident is related by the inspired evangelist, so far from 
intimating that Mary was destined to become an 
object of worship to the believers in her Son, affords 
evidence strongly bearing in the contrary direction. 
Here, again, Joseph and Mary are both called his 

, parents. Joseph is once mentioned by name, and so 

i is Mary. If the language had been so framed as on 
purpose to take away all distinction of preference and 
superiority, it could not more successfully have effected 
its object. And not only so; but of the three addresses 
recorded as having been made by our blessed Lord 
to his beloved mother (and only three are recorded in 
the New Testament), the first occurs during this visit 
to Jerusalem. That address was made in answer to 
the remonstrance made by Mary, 66 Son, why hast 

I thou thus dealt with us ? Behold thy father and I 
have sought thee sorrowing." " How is it that ye 

1 sought me ? Wist ye not that I must be about my 
Father's business?" He makes no distinction here, 
" Know ye not ? 99 We may appeal to any dispassion- 
ate reasoner to pronounce whether such a reproof, 
couched in such words, countenances the idea that our 



2 Luke ii. 35. See De Sacy, vol. xxxii. p. 128. 



12 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

blessed Lord intended his mother to receive such di- 
vine honour from his followers to the end of time as 
the Church of Rome now pays to her; and whether 
St Luke, whose pen wrote this account, could have 
been cognisant of any such right vested in the Virgin ? 
The Evangelist adds, "His mother kept all these 
sayings in her heart." 

The next passage requiring our consideration, is 
that which records the first miracle of our Lord. 
« And the third day there was a marriage in Can a of 
Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there, and both 
Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 
And when they wanted wine (when the wine failed), 
the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no 
wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have 1 to 
do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come 3 ." We need 
make no remark on the comments which difterent 
Roman Catholic writers have recommended for adop- 
tion here. Let the passage be interpreted in any way 
which fair and enlightened criticism, and the analogy 
of Scripture will sanction, and we may ask, Could any 
unprejudiced mind, after a careful weighing of the 
incident, the facts, and the words, in all their bearings, 
expect that the holy and beloved person, toward whom 
the meek, and tender, and affectionate Jesus employed 
this address, was destined by that omniscient 
Saviour to become an object of those religious acts 
with which (as we have seen) the Church of 
Rome daily approaches her? Indeed, Epiphamus 
considers our blessed Lord to have employed, on this 
occasion, the word "woman," for the express purpose 
of preserving believers in the Gospel from an exces- 
sive admiration of Mary: « Lest any one should 
think that the holy Virgin was a being of superior 

excellence 4 ." ., , , .,, 

We must now advert to an incident recorded with 
little variety of expression, and with no essential dit- 

3 John ii. 1-4. * Epiph. Paris, 1622, pp. 1056-1064, 



I 



Evidence of Holy Scripture against it. 13 

ference, by the first three Evangelists. St. Matthew's, 
which is the fullest account, is this: "While he yet 
j| talked to the people, behold, his mother and his 
brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. 
Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy 
1 brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 
| But he answered and said unto him that told him, 
l Who is my mother, and who are my brethren ? And 
! he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and 
j said, Behold my mother and my brethren ! For who- 
j soever shall do the will of my Father which is in 
I heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and 
j mother 5 ." Or, as St. Luke expresses it, "And he 
j answered and said unto them, My mother and my 
brethren are these who hear the word of God and 
do it 6 ." 

Humanly speaking, could a more favourable oppor- 
tunity than this have presented itself to our blessed 
Lord, of referring to his mother in such a manner 
as to exalt her above her fellow-daughters of Eve ; 
in such a manner, too. as that Christians in after- 

j days, when the Saviour's bodily presence should have 
been taken away from them, and the extraordinary 
communications of the Spirit of truth should have been 
withdrawn, might have remembered that He had spoken 
such things, and have been countenanced by his words 
in doing her homage ? But so far is this from the 
plain and natural tendency of his words, that had He 
intended to guard his disciples to the end of time 

! against supposing that the love and reverence which 

j they felt towards Himself should show itself in their 
exaltation of his mother above all created beings, 
language could scarcely have supplied words more 

' fitted for that purpose. Nothing in the com muni ca- 
cation made to Him should seem to have called for 

5 Matt. xii. 46. Luke viii. 21. - 
| 6 Tertullian, De Carne Christi vii. Chrysostom, vol. vii. p. 4G7, 
I and others, comment in very strong- and plain language against this 
I (as it appeared to them) unjustifiable intrusion of Mary. 



14. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

such a remark. A plain message announces to Him, 
as a matter of fact, one of the most common occur- 
rences of daily life, and yet He fixes upon the cir- 
cumstance as the groundwork, not only of declaring 
the close union between Himself and faithful believers 
in Him, but of cautioning all against any superstitious 
feelings towards those who were nearly allied to Him 
by the ties of human nature. With reverence we 
would say, it is as though He desired to record his fore- 
knowledge of the errors into which his disciples were 
likely to be seduced, warning them beforehand to 
shun and resist the temptation. _ 

The evidence borne by this passage against the 
offering by Christians of any religious worship to the 
Virgin, on the ground of her having been the mother 
of our Lord, is clear and direct. She was the mother 
of the Redeemer of the world, and blessed is she 
among women; but that very Redeemer Himself, 
with his own lips, assures us, that every faithful and 
obedient servant of his heavenly Father shall be 
honoured equally with her, and possess all the privileges 
which so near and dear a relationship with Himselt 
might be supposed to convey. " Who is my mother, 
and who are mv brethren? Behold my mother and 
my brethren !" * " Whosoever shall do the will of my 
Father in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, 
and mother." . . 

We have equal reason to take notice in this place 
of that most remarkable passage, in which our blessed 
Lord is recorded, under different circumstances, to 
have expressed the same sentiment, but in words 
which carry with them even stronger indications of 
his desire to prevent any undue exaltation of his 
mother. " As he spake these things, a certain woman 
of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him, 
Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps 
which thou hast sucked V On the truth or wisdom 



? Luke xi. 27. 



Evidence of Holy Scripture against it. 15 

of that exclamation our Lord makes no remark ; He 
refers not to his mother at all; not even to assure his 
audience that however blessed Mary might be in 
having brought forth the Saviour bodily, yet far 
more blessed was she (as St. Chrysostom 8 and others 
remind us) because she had borne Him spiritually in 
her heart. To his mother He does not allude, except 
for the purpose of immediately fixing the minds of 
his hearers on the sure and greater blessedness of his 
faithful disciples. "But he said, Yea rather [or as 
some prefer to translate the words, c Yea, verily, and'], 
blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep 
it." Again, it must be asked, Could such an ex- 
clamation have been met by such an answer, had our 
Lord's will been to exalt his mother, as she is now 
exalted by the Church of Rome ? Rather, we would 
reverently ask, Would He have given this turn to 
such an address, had He not desired to check any 
such feelings towards her ? 

That affecting and edifying incident recorded by 
St. John as having taken place while the Lord Jesus 
was hanging on the cross (an incident which speaks 
to every one that has an understanding to compre- 
hend and a heart to feel), brings before us the last 
occasion on which the name of the Virgin Mary occurs 
in the Gospels. 

No paraphrase could add force or clearness or 
beauty to the narrative of the evangelist; no expo- 
sition could bring out its parts more prominently, 
powerfully, or affectingly. The calmness and autho- 
rity of our blessed Lord, his tenderness and affection, 
his filial love in the midst of his agony, it is impossi- 
ble for the pen of man to describe with more heart- 
stirring and heart-soothing pathos. But not one syl- 
lable falls from the lips of Christ, or from the pen of 
the beloved disciple, which can be construed to imply 
that our blessed Lord intended Mary to be held by 
his followers in such honour as would be shown in the 

s See Chrys. vol. vii. p. 4G7- 



16 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

offering of prayer and praise to her after her dissolu- 
tion. He who could by a word have bidden the 
whole course of nature and of providence to minister 
to the health and safety, the support and comfort of 
his mother, leaves her to the care of one whom He 
loves, and whose sincerity and devotedness to Him 
He had, humanly speaking, long experienced. He 
bids John look to Mary as he would to his own mo- 
ther ; He bids Mary look to John, as to her own Son, 
for protection and solace. " Now there stood by the 
cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, 
Mary the wife of Cieophas, and Mary Magdalene. 
When Jesus, therefore, saw his mother, and the disci- 
ple standing by whom he loved, he said unto his 
mother, Woman, behold thy son : then said he to the 
disciple, Behold thy mother." And he added no 
more. If Christ willed that his beloved mother 
should end her days in peace, removed equally 
from the desolation of widowhood on the one 
hand, and from notoriety on the other, nothing 
could be more natural than such conduct in such 
a Being at such a time. But if his purpose had 
been to exalt her into an object of religious worship, 
that nations should kneel before her, and all people 
do her homage ; and to teach all his followers to look 
to her as the channel through which the favour and 
blessings of heaven were to be conveyed to mankind, 
then the words and the conduct of our blessed Lord 
at this hour would be inexplicable ; and so also would 
be the words of the evangelist closing the narrative, 
" And from that hour, that disciple took her unto his 
own home 9 ." 

Subsequently to this, not one word falls from the 
pen of St. John which can be made to bear on the 
station, the person, or the circumstances of Mary. 
After his resurrection, our Saviour remained on earth 
forty clays before He finally ascended bodily into hea- 
ven! Many of his interviews and conversations with 

9 John xix. 25. 



Evidence of Holy Scripture against it. 17 

the disciples during that interval are recorded. Every- 
one of the four Evangelists has told us of some act or some 
saying of our Lord on one or more of those occasions. 
Mention is made by name of Mary Magdalene, of the 
other Mary, of the mother of James, of Salome, of Joanna, 
of Peter, of Cleophas, of the disciple whom Jesus loved 
(at whose home the mother of our Lord then was), of 
Thomas also, of Nathanael, and generally of the eleven. 
But by no one of the Evangelists is reference made at 
all in the gospels to Mary the mother of our Lord, as 
having been present at any one of those interviews; 
her name is not alluded to throughout. 

On one solitary occasion, subsequently to Christ's 
Ascension, mention is made of ^ Mary his mother; 
it is in • company with many others, and without 
any distinction to separate her from the rest. 
" And when they were come in, they went up into 
an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, 
and John, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartho- 
lomew and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and 
Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. 
These all continued with one accord in prayer and 
supplication, with the women and Mary the mother 
of Jesus, and with his brethren 1 ." Not one word is 
said as to Mary having been present to witness even 
the ascension of her blessed Son : we read of no com- 
mand from our Lord, no wish expressed by Him, no 
distant intimation that they should show to her even 
marks of respect and honour; nor is any allusion 
made to her superiority or pre-eminence. 

Sixty years at the least we may consider to be 
comprehended within the subsequent history of the 
New Testament before the Apocalypse was written ; 
but neither in the narrative, nor in the epistles, nor 
yet in the prophetic part of the sacred writings, is 
there the most distant reference to Mary 2 . Of him 

1 Acts i. 13. 

2 We need not allude to Rev. xii. 1, as a passage strano-ely per- 
verted to apply to the Virgin in heaven, because Roman Catholics do 
not at all agree together in such an application. See De Sacy, in loc. 



18 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

to whose filial care our dying Saviour committed his 
mother, we hear much. St. John we find putting 
forth the miraculous power of Christ at the Beautiful 
Gate of the Temple ; we see him imprisoned and ar- 
raigned before the Jewish authorities; but not one 
word is mentioned as to what meanwhile became of 
Mary. St. John we find confirming the Church in 
Samaria ; we see him an exile in the island of Pat- 
mos; but no mention throughout is made of Mary. 
Nay, though we have three of his epistles, and the 
second of them addressed to one whom he loved in 
the truth, we can trace in them no allusion to the 
mother of our Lord, alive or dead. 

We have no reason to suppose that St. Paul had any 
personal knowledge of the Virgin. At all events it 
is a fact of which, neither do his own epistles, nor does 
the inspired history of his life and labours give the 
slightest intimation. St. Paul does indeed refer to the 
human nature of Christ derived from his human mother; 
and had St. Paul been taught by direct revelation, or 
by his fellow Apostles, older in the ministry than him- 
self, to entertain towards her such sentiments as the 
Roman Church now entertains, he could not have 
found a more inviting occasion to give utterance to 
them. But instead of thus speaking of the Virgin 
Mary, he does not even mention her name or con- 
dition at all, referring only in the most general way to a 
daughter of Adam, of whom the Son of God was 
born : " But when the fulness of time was come, God 
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the 
law, to redeem them that were under the law, that 
they might receive the adoption of sons 3 ." 

This absence of evidence in Holy Scripture as to 
the birth, life, death, glories, and power of the Virgin 
Mary, seems to have been sensibly felt by many 
of her zealous votaries. To supply such want of 
countenance and sanction to the honours now paid to 
her in the Church of Rome, various expedients have 



3 Gal. iv. 4. 



Evidence of Holy Scripture against it. 19 

been adopted. The doctrine of progressive develop- 
ment has been relied on ; and revelations of her 
influence and majesty have been alleged, as having 
been supernaturally made by herself to many of her 

I most famous worshippers ; especially are we referred 
to the revelations made by the Virgin to St. Bridget 4 . 
But another solution of this difficulty has been sug- 

| gested, on which we shall make no comment, since 
few probably of the most ardent propagators of the 
doctrine of development will acknowledge that 
solution as their own. " The silence of Holy Scrip- 

j ture as to Mary's birth and circumstances (less being 
recorded of her than of John the Baptist) was 
designed, and for this very purpose, to be an encou- 
ragement to the votaries of Mary. God, wishing to 
countenance and second their pious zeal, omitted the 

j record of those particulars which are now celebrated 
by her worshippers, that they might have ample 
room for the full exercise of their piety and for their 

j religious and reasonable invention and propagation of 
novelties concerning her 5 ." 

Others, however, affirm that though not in Holy 
Scripture, yet in the works of the early Fathers 
of the Church, the mediation of the Virgin is recog- 
nized and taught, and prayers to her for blessings 
from heaven are sanctioned and prescribed. An 
honest and careful and thorough search into the 
genuine remains of those early writers, must convince 
every one, that for at least five hundred years the 
worship of the Virgin had no place or name in the 
Church of Christ. And this will be made the subject 
of some future numbers. 

4 Diptycha Mariana, vol. vii. p. 20. 5 Dipt. Mar. vol. vii. p. 4. 



Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 

i 

•I 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY. 



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ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts form part of a series intended to be 
issued, on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published 

I. On the Supremacy of the Pope. 
II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

IV. Ox the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Old Testament against it. 

V. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the New Testament against it. 

VI. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it. 

VII. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it— 
[continued]. 

VIII On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.— 
Doctrine and Authorized Services of the 
Church of Rome. 
IX. On the Worship of the Virgin.— Practical Work- 
ing of the System. 

X. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.— Evidence 

of Holy Scripture against it. 

XI. On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, a.d. 47. 

The worship of the Virgin Mary seems to be entirely 
I built upon a belief in the supernatural and miraculous 
\ removal of her person, her body as well as her soul, from 
j earth into heaven. This is called in the Roman Church 
her Assumption : the alleged event being celebrated 
by an annual festival on the 15th of August. That 
event is not represented by any one to have taken 
! place subsequently to the time when the Canon of 
Holy Scripture closes : we are therefore induced to enter 
now upon an investigation into the evidence on which 
the belief in so marvellous a transaction rests, having 
in a preceding number examined the testimony of the 
Sacred Volume as to the worship of the Virgin; and 
purposing in some subsequent numbers to carry on 
our enquiries on the same subject, into the writings 
of the Fathers of the Church through the first five 
centuries. 

By the Church of England two festivals are observed 
in commemoration of two events relating to the Virgin 
Mary as the mother of our Lord, in the titles of both 
of which her name occurs : one the announcement of 
our Saviour's incarnation by the message of an angel, 
called " The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary ;" the other " The Presentation of Christ in 
the Temple," called also " The Purification of St. 
| Mary the Virgin." On the first of these solem- 
I nities we are taught to pray that as we have known 

a2 

I 



4 On the Assumption of the Virgin Manj. 
the incarnation of the Son of God by the message of 
an Angel, so by his Cross and passion we may be 
brought to the glory of his resurrection. On the 
secorfd we humbly beseech the Divine Majesty, that, 
as his only Son was presented in the Temple in the 
substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto 
God with pure and clean hearts, by the same Jesus 
Christ our Lord. These days are appointed to com- 
memorate events made known to us on the sure warrant 
of Holy Scripture ; and these prayers are primitive and 
evangelical; they address God alone, and only through 
his Son. The second prayer was used in the Church 
from very early times, and is retained in the Roman 
Breviary '. But instead of the first, which has still a 
place in the Missal, we now find in the Breviary a 
prayer neither primitive nor evangelical, which sup- 
plicates that those who use it, « believing Mary to be 
truly the mother of God, may be aided by her inter- 
cession with Him 2 ." ,. 

In the Roman Church, however, feasts are dedi- 
cated to the Virgin Mary, in which we cannot join; 
anion* others, her Immaculate Conception, and her 
Assumption. By appointing a service 3 and a collect 
commemorative of the immaculate conception ot tne 
Viro-in Mary in her mother's womb, and praying that 
the°observance of that solemnity may procure her 
votaries an increase of peace, the Church of Rome has 
not only acted without a shadow of countenance trom 
Scripture, or primitive times 4 ; but has herself given 
countenance and sanction, affixed her seal to a novel 
superstition, against which, at its commencement, so 
recently as the twelfth century, St. Bernard; strongly 
remonstrated with the monks of Lyons. It is unhap- 
pily, moreover, a superstition which has often been 
defended by arguments, and explained by discussions, 

1 H 536 2 V. 496. 3 H. 445. 

* Epiphanius says distinctly, that Mary's birth was not out ot the 
usual course of nature. Paris, 1622, p. 1003, &c. 

* Paris, 1632. Ep. 174. p. 1538. 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, 5 



| which have lost sight of all delicacy, and can in no 
j way be profitable to the understanding' or the heart. 

But of all the institutions in honour of the Virgin, 
the Feast of the Assumption is regarded by the 
Roman Church as the head and crown, " The As- 
I sumption of the Virgin Mary (we are told 6 ) is the 
greatest of all the festivals which the Church cele- 
brates in her honour. It is the consummation of all 
the other great mysteries by which her life was ren- 
dered most wonderful. It is the birth-day of her true 
I greatness and glory, and the crown of all the virtues 
jl of her whole life, which we admire singly in her other 
| festivals." Before such a solemn office of praise and 
worship as we find in the Church of Rome on the 
i loth of August were ever admitted among the institu- 
tions of the religion of the Gospel, its originators and 
compilers ought to have built upon sure ground : 
careful too should those persons be now who join in 
! the service, and promote it by the countenance of 
their example ; but more especially should the evi- 
dence on which it rests be sifted well by all who 
undertake to defend and uphold it, lest at last they 
prove to have loved Rome more than the truth as it 
is in Jesus. So solemn and marked a religious 
service in the temple, and at the altar of Him 
who is the Truth, ought to be founded on Holy 
Scripture ; or at the very least, on undisputed his- 
torical evidence, the certain and acknowledged tes- 
timony of the Church from the very time of the 
actual occurrence of the fact on which it is based. Those 
persons incur a fearful responsibility, who aid in 
propagating for religious verities the inventions of 
men. 

But what is the doctrine and the practice of the 
Church of Rome with regard to the Assumption of the 
Virgin Mary ? 
| In tfie ritual of the Assumption, it is many 

6 Alban Butler, vol. viii. p. 175. 
A 3 



6 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, 

times reiterated in a brief space, and with a slight 
variation of expression, that the Virgin was taken up into 
heaven; and this is asserted not on any general 
and indefinite notion of her glorified state, h\xt^ with 
reference to one specific and single act of divine inter- 
position, performed at a fixed time, effecting her As- 
sumption " to-day." " To-day, Mary the Virgin 
ascended the heavens. Rejoice, because she is reign- 
ing with Christ for ever 7 ." " Mary the Virgin rs taken 
up into heaven, to the ethereal chamber, in which the 
King of kings sits on his starry throne." " The Holy 
Mother of God has been exalted above the choir of 
angels, to the heavenly realms." " Come, let us wor- 
ship the King of kings, to whose ethereal heaven^ the 
Virgin-mother was taken up today." And that it is 
her bodily ascension, her corporeal assumption into 
heaven, and not merely the transit of her soul from 
mortal life to eternal bliss, which the Roman Church 
maintains and proclaims by this service, is put beyond 
doubt by the service itself. In the fourth and sixth 
reading or lesson, for example, we find these sentences, 
— " She returned not unto the earth, but is seated in 
the heavenly tabernacles. How could death devour ? 
how could those below receive ? how could corruption 
invade THAT BODY in which life was received? 
For it a direct, plain, and easy path to heaven was 
prepared." Indeed, doctors of the Roman Church do 
not'scruple to affirm distinctly, that one object which 
their Church had in view, was to condemn the heresy of 
those who maintained that the reception of the Virgin 
into heaven was the reception of her soul only, and 
not also of her body 8 . 

Now on what authority does this doctrine rest ? On 
what foundation-stone is this religious service built ? 
It rests on no authentic history ; it is supported by no 



7 .Est. 595. 603, 604. 

8 Larabecius, book viii. p. 306. See also the Lessons from John or 
Damascus, now appointed to be read on the day of the Assumption. 
iEst. 603. 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 7 

primitive tradition. The most celebrated defenders 
of these Roman tenets and practices, instead of citing 
such evidence as would carry some faint semblance of 
probability, appeal to histories written more than a 
thousand years after the alleged event, to forged docu- 
ments, and vague rumours. It is quite surprising to 
find many of them, instead of establishing by evidence 
what they say God once did, contenting themselves 
with asserting his omnipotence in proof that their tenets 
imply no impossibility ; dwelling on the fitness and 
reasonableness of his working such a miracle in honour 
of so distinguished a vessel of mercy ; and while they 
assume the fact as granted, substituting in place of 
argument, glowing and poetical descriptions of what 
must have been the joy in heaven, and what ought to be 
the corresponding feelings of mortals on earth. At every 
step of the inquiry into the merits of this case, that 
most sound principle, which is lamentably neglected, is 
brought again and again to our mind,— that as men 
really and in earnest looking onward to a life after 
this, we are bound to inquire, not what God could do, 
nor what man might pronounce it fitting for God to 
do, but what He has done, and what He has revealed. 
The moment a Christian writer betakes himself from 
evidence to possibilities, he deserts the first principles 
of Christian truth, and throws us back from the 
sure and certain hope of the Gospel of Christ, to the 
" beautiful fable" of Socrates, and his exclamation 
before his judges — "It were better to be there than 
here, IF these things are true." 

Now should any persons have resolved to adopt 
implicitly, without allowing any examination, and 
without admitting any appeal, the faith and present 
practice of the Church of Rome, they will take no 
interest in such an inquiry as we are now instituting; 
and they will find, in the sentiments of St. Bernard, 
countenance for thus surrendering their judgment and 
conscience. In the same letter in which, as we have 
seen, he reproves the monks of Lyons for promoting 

a 4 



8 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

the then rising superstition as to the immaculate con- 
ception of the Virgin Mary in her mother's womb, (a 
superstition sanctioned by a solemn service of the 
Roman ritual at the present day,) he professes him- 
self to be not " over-scrupulous " in receiving what 
the Church had taught him as to the Assumption 
of the Virgin,—" that the day was to be observed with 
the highest veneration, on which she was taken up 
from this wicked world." On the other hand, well- 
informed members of that Church assure us, that a 
general desire has gained ground among them, to have 
this and other similar questions examined without pre- 
judice, and the results of the inquiry to be calmly laid 
open before them and before the world. To such 
persons, the following pages may seem worthy of con- 
sideration. 

We would, however, here observe (before we en- 
ter upon the evidence), that the Romanist writers on 
this subject are bv no means agreed as to the time 
or place of the Virgin's death. While some have main- 
tained that she breathed her last at Ephesus, others 
affirm that her departure from this world took place at 
Jerusalem ; and as to the time of her death, some have 
assigned it to the year 48 (that is, about the time when 
St. Paul and St. Barnabas returned to Antioch ), 
while others refer it to later dates : none, however, 
fixing it at a period subsequently to the time when 
the Acts of the Apostles closes. Epiphamus, indeed, 
towards the end of the fourth century, reminding us 
that Scripture is wholly and plainly silent on the sub- 
iect of Mary's death and burial, as well as of her haying 
ever accompanied St. John in his travels or not, without 
alluding to any known tradition as to her Assumption, 
thus sums up his sentiments : " I dare to say nothing, 
but after consideration am silent." And again he says 
distinctly, " Her end is not known." 

We now proceed to inquire into the evidence 
on which so solemn a religious service in honour of 
9 Acts xiv. 26. Epiph. vol. i. p. 1043 and 1003. 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 9 



the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, as the Church of 
Rome celebrates every year, is founded ; a service, 
the spirit of which diffuses itself through the public 
services of the whole year, and is mingled with the 
| daily devotional exercises of individual members of 
that Church. 

In the first place, the Holy Scriptures are utterly 
and profoundly silent as to the time and the manner, 
and even the fact of the Virgin Mary's death. We 
| then ask, if such an event, (witnessed, as this legend 
i says, by the Apostles,) so marvellous in itself, and 
! so important in its consequences, had actually taken 
| place, is it within the verge of credibility, that no 
: allusion to it should have been made in that in- 
spired book, which records the actions and journeys 
and letters of those very Apostles, especially in the 
case of St. John, to whose filial care she had been 
committed by our blessed Saviour? Once after the 
ascension of our Lord, and that within eight days, 
I we find mentioned the name of Mary promiscuously 
with others ; and after that no allusion to her is made 
in life or in death ; and yet no account places her 
death too late for mention to have been made of it in 
the Acts of the Apostles. 

But, when we have in vain searched the holy 
volume, what light does primitive antiquity enable 
us to throw on this subject ? The earliest testimony 
quoted by the supporters of the doctrine is a sup- 
posed entry in the Chronicon of Eusebius, written 
about a.d. 315, opposite the year of our Lord, 48. 
This is cited by Coccius 1 without any remark, and 
even Baronius rests the date of Mary's Assumption 
on this testimony. The words cited are these : 
46 Mary the Virgin, the mother of Jesus, was taken 
up into heaven, as some write that it had been re- 
vealed unto them." Now, for one moment let us sup- 
pose that this came from the pen of Eusebius himself; 
j and to what does it amount ? A chronologist in the 

1 Vol. i. p. 403. 
! A 5 



10 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

fourth century would then have been found to record 
that some persons (whom he does not name, not even 
statin* when they lived), had written not what they 
had heard as a matter of fact, but that a revelation 
had been made to them of an event haying taken 
place nearly three centuries before the time of the 
chronologist. f 
But instead of this passage deserving the name ot 
Eusebius as its author, it is palpably and confessedly 
an interpolation. Suspicions must have arisen at a 
remote date as to its genuineness; for many manu- 
scripts, especially the seven in the Vatican, were 
known to contain nothing of the kind. Indeed, the 
Roman Catholic editor 2 of the Chromcon at Bor- 
deaux, so far back as a.d. 1604, confesses that he was 
restrained from expunging it, only because nothing 
certain as to the Assumption of the \ irgin could be 
substituted in its place ! Its spuriousness, however, 
is no longer a question of dispute or doubt; m 1818 
it was excluded from the Milan impression edited by 
Ano elo Maio and John Zohrab ; and no trace of it is 
to be found in the Armenian version, published that 
same year, with anxious care to secure accuracy, by 
the monks of the Armenian convent near Venice. _ 

The next authority to which we must refer is a 
letter 3 said to have been written by Sophromus the 
oresbyter about the commencement of the fifth cen- 
tury. It used to be ascribed to Jerome, but Erasmus 
referred it to Sophronius. To many this is an un- 
welcome document. Baronius shows great anxiety 
to detract from the value of the writer's evidence, 
whoever he was, sharply criticising him, because he 
asserts that the faithful in his time still expressed 
doubts as to the fact of the Virgin's Assumption. 
It is, however, to be remarked that Baronius, by 



3 The le'tter is entitled, " Ad Paulam et Eustochium de Assurop- 
tione B. M. Virginis." It is found in Jeromes Works, edit. J. 
Martian, vol. v. p. 82. 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 11 

assigning to this letter a date still later than the works 
of Sophronius, adds strength to the arguments for the 
comparatively recent origin of the tradition. For he 
says it was written by "an egregious forger of lies," 
who lived after the heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches 
had been condemned. 

Be this as it may ; that the letter is of very ancient 
origin cannot be doubted : and whoever penned it, 
whether we look to the sensible and pious sentiments 
contained in it, or to its undisputed antiquity, the 
following extract cannot fail to be interesting. What- 
ever other inferences may be drawn from it, it leaves 
no question, that so far from the tradition regarding 
the Virgin's Assumption being general in the Church 
when the writer lived, it was a subject of grave doubt 
and discussion among Christians, many of whom 
thought it an act of pious forbearance to abstain 
altogether from pronouncing any opinion on the sub- 
ject. " 4 Many of our people doubt whether Mary 
was taken up together with her body, or whether she 
went away leaving the body. But how, or at what 
time, or by what persons her holy body was taken hence 
and to what place removed, or whether it rose again, is 
not known ; although some will maintain that she is 
already revived, and is clothed with a blessed im- 
mortality with Christ in heavenly places. And this 
very many affirm also of his servant the blessed John 
the Evangelist (to whom, being a virgin, the Virgin 
was entrusted by Christ); because in his sepulchre, as 
it is reported, nothing is found but manna, which 
also is seen to flow forth. Nevertheless which of 
these opinions should be thought the more true we 
doubt. Yet it is better to commit all to God, with 
whom nothing is impossible, than to wish to define 
rashly by our own authority any thing which we do not 
approve of. Because nothing is impossible with God, 
we do not deny that something of the kind was done 

4 Baronius, Cologne, 1609, vol. i. p. 408. See also Fabricius 
Hamburgh, 1804), vol. ix. p. 160. 

A 6 



]2 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 
with regard to tkfe blessed Virgin Mary ; although 
for caution's sake, preserving our faith, we ought with 
pious desire to think rather than to define inconsider- 
ately what without danger may remain unknown. 

This letter, at the very earliest, was not written 
until the beginning of the fifth century. 

Subsequent writers were not wanting to supply 
what this letter declares to have been, at its own date, 
unknown, as to the fact, and the manner, and the time 
of Mary's Assumption, and the persons connected with 
the transaction. The first authority appealed to in 
defence of the tradition, is usually cited as a well- 
known work written by Euthymius, a contemporary 
of Juvenal, Archbishop of Jerusalem. The earliest 
author in whose reputed works the passage is found, 
seems to have been John of Damascus, a monk of Je- 
rusalem, who lived somewhat before the middle of the 
eighth century. Much doubt exists as to the work 
from which the passage professes to be taken : the 
Zk does not quote from it as « The history written 
by Euthymius" nor as « The history concerning Eu- 
thymius," but as "The Euthymiac History; and 
Lambecius maintains, that it was not an ecclesias real 
work written by Euthymius, who died m 4v , b » 
bioo-raphical history concerning Euthymius himself, 
written, as he thinks probable, by Cyril the ^ monk, 
who died 531. This opinion is combated by Cote- 
lerius-the discussion only thickening the dense mis 
which involves the whole, from first to last. _ But 
whether Euthymius were the author, or he subjec 01 
Sie work, or neither the one nor the other, th e work 
itself is lost; an epitome only survives; and in tha. 
abridgment, not a trace of the passage quoted by John 
of Damascus is found. tit 

That author having represented himself as holding a 
conversationwiththetomboftheyirgin,towhichwemus 

ao-ain advert, thus appeals to the passage m question 
-"Ye see, beloved fathers and brethren, what answer the 
all-gracious tomb makes to us ; and, in proof that these 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 13 



things are so, in the Euthymiac history, the third book, 
and fortieth chapter, it is thus written, word for word : — 
" It has been above said, that the holy Pulcheria 
built many churches to Christ, at Constantinople. Of 
I these, however, there is one built in Blachernse, in 
the beginning of the reign of Marcian of divine me- 
mory. Marcian and Pulcheria, therefore, when they 
! had built a venerable temple to the greatly-to-be- 
celebrated, and most holy mother of God, and ever 
Virgin Mary, and had decked it with all ornaments, 
sought her most holy body, which had conceived 
{ God. And having' sent for Juvenal, Archbishop of 
j Jerusalem, and for the Bishops of Palestine, who were 
j living in the royal city, on account of the synod then 
held at Chalcedon, they say to them, We hear that 
| there is in Jerusalem, the first and famous church of 
Mary,, mother of God, and ever Virgin, in the garden 
called Gethsemane, where her body, which bore the 
Life, was deposited in a coffin. We wish, therefore, 
i her relics to be brought here for the protection of this 
royal city. But Juvenal answered, In the true and 
divinely inspired Scripture, indeed, nothing is re- 
corded of the departure of the holy Mary, mother 
of God : but, from an ancient and most true tradi- 
tion, we have received, that at the time of her glorious 
falling asleep, all the holy Apostles, who were going 
through the world for the salvation of the nations, in 
a moment of time borne aloft, came together to Jeru- 
salem ; and when they were near her, they had a 
vision of angels, and divine melody of the highest 
powers was heard ; and then with divine and more 
heavenly glory, she, in an unspeakable manner, de- 
livered her holy soul into the hands of God. But that 
which had conceived God, being borne with angelic 
and apostolic psalmody, with funeral rites was depo- 
sited in a coffin in Gethsemane. In this place, the 
chorus and singing of the angels continued for three 
I whole days. But after three days, on the angelic 
music ceasing, since one of the Apostles had been 



14 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

absent, and came after the third day, and wished to 
adore the body that had conceived God, the Apostles 
who were present opened the coffin ; but the body, 
pure and every way to be praised, they could not at 
all find. And when they found only those things m 
which it had been laid out and placed there, and were 
filled with an ineffable fragrancy proceeding froni 
those things, they shut the coffin. Being astonished 
at the miraculous mystery, they could form no other 
thought but that He who had in his own person, 
deigned to be clothed with flesh, and to be made man 
of most holy Virgin, and to be born in the flesh, God 
the Word and Source of Glory, and who after birth had 
preserved her virginity immaculate, had seen it good, 
after she had departed from among the living, to 
honour her uncontaminated and unpolluted body, by 
a translation before the common and universal resur- 



rection 



This, then, is the account of the Virgin's Assumption 
nearest to the time ; and can any thing be more 
vague, and, in point of evidence, more utterly worth- 
less? It stands thus: a preacher, in the eighth 
century, refers to a work, (the character of which 
is unknown, and to that part of the work of which 
not a line is extant,) in which the writer, near the 
middle of the sixth century, is said to have referred to a 
conversation reported to have taken place at Constan- 
tinople a hundred years before that writers time, in 
which conversation the then Bishop of Jerusalem was 
said to have informed the Emperor Marcian of 
an ancient tradition, concerning a miraculous event 
nearly four hundred years before that bishop s time, 
namely, that the body of Mary was taken out of 
the coffin, without the knowledge of those who had 
deposited it there. Whereas, the primitive and in- 
spired account (recording most minutely the jour- 



« Jo. Damas; Paris, 1712, vol. ii. p. 875. 877. 881. 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 15 

neys and proceedings of those very persons, before, 
j! and subsequently to, the alleged event, and the let- 
1 ters of others), makes no mention at all of any 
transaction of the kind ; whereas, also, of all the inter- 
mediate historians and writers of every character, not 
one gives the slightest intimation that any rumour of 
! it had ever reached them. 

Before we proceed to the next adduced testimony, 
it may be well to advert to some particulars relative 
to the sermon said to have been preached by this John 
of Damascus. The passage occurs in the second of 
| three homilies, on " The sleep of the Virgin," a term 
| generally used by the later Greeks as an equivalent 
for the Roman word Assumption The publication of 
these homilies in Greek and Latin is of late date. 
Lambecius 6 , a.d. 1655, says, that he was not aware of 
| any one having so published them before his time. 
We wish, however, to raise no question now as to 
their genuineness. But the preacher's introduction 
i of this passage into his homily is preceded by a sec- 
tion that deserves the careful weighing of all who 
would honestly ascertain the real sentiments of the 
early writers of the Christian Church. It affords a 
striking example of the manner in which Christian 
orators used to indulge in addresses and appeals, not 
only to the spirits of departed men, but even to things 
which never had life. Here the speaker, in his ser- 
mon, addresses the very tomb of Mary, as though it 
had ears to hear, and an understanding to compre- 
hend ; and then he represents the tomb as having a 
tongue to answer, and as calling forth from the 
preacher and his congregation a response of admira- 
tion and reverence. Such apostrophes as these can- 
not be too steadily borne in mind, or too carefully 
weighed, when any argument is drawn from similar 
salutations offered by ancient Christian orators to 
saint, or angel, or the Virgin. 



6 Vol. viii. p. 281. 



16 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

Among other salutations, John of Damascus, if the 
homily be his, thus addresses the tomb of the Virgin : 
« Thou, O tomb, of holy things most holy (for I will 
address thee as a living being), where is the much- 
desired and much-beloved body of the Mother of 
God ?" In this strange dramatic scene the answer of 
the tomb begins thus: " Why seek ye her in a tomb, 
who has been taken up on high to the heavenly taber- 
nacles ?" In reply to this, the preacher, first delibe- 
rating with his audience what reply he should make, 
thus speaks to the tomb; "Thy grace, indeed, is 
never-failing and eternal," &c. 

By the maintainers of the invocation of saints and an- 
gels and the Virgin, many a passage, far more equivocal 
and indirect and less cogent than this, which a preacher 
here addresses to stone and earth, is adduced now to 
prove, that saints and martyrs and angels and the Vir- 
gin were invoked by primitive worshippers. 

Of the lessons appointed by the Church of Rome 
for the Feast of the Assumption, to be read to be- 
lievers assembled in God's house of prayer, three are 
selected and taken entirely from this very oration of 
John of Damascus. 

Le Quien 7 , the editor of the works of John of Da- 
mascus, offers some very interesting remarks bearing 
immediately on the agitated question, as to the first 
institution of the Feast of the Assumption, as well as 
on the tradition itself. He infers from the words of 
Modestus, patriarch of Jerusalem, that scarcely any 
preachers before him had addressed their congrega- 
tions on the departure of the Virgin out of this life ; 
he thinks that the Feast of the Assumption was, at 
the commencement of the seventh century, only re- 
cently instituted. While all later writers affirm, that 
the Virgin was buried in the valley of Jehoshaphat, 
Le Quien observes, that this could not have been 
known to Jerome, who passed a great part of his life 

7 Le Quien refers to earlier homilies on the Bormitio Virginls, 
p. 857. 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 17 

in Bethlehem, and yet preserves a total silence on 
the subject; though, in his " Epitaph on Paula," he 
enumerates all the places in Palestine distinguished 
by any remarkable event. Neither, he adds, could 
it have been known to Epiphanius, who, though he 
lived long in Palestine, yet declares that nothing was 
known as to the death or burial of the Virgin. 

Again, in his criticism upon the writings falsely 
attributed to Melito 8 (their author being, on that ac- 
count, generally referred to as the Pseudo-Melito), 
Le Quien observes, that since that author says many 
unworthy things of the Virgin (such, for example, as 
lier great fear when death approached of being ex- 
posed to the wiles of Satan), the work was probably 
written before the council of Ephesus (i. e. a.d. 449) ; 
alleging this remarkable reason, that "after that time, 
there began to be entertained, as was right, not only 
in the east, but also in the west, a far better estimate 
of the Mother of God." Could any one urge a 
stronger proof that the worship of the Virgin Mary 
was neither apostolical nor primitive ? 

The same editor, Le Quien, insinuates the possi- 
bility of Juvenal (whose character he makes no scru- 
ple to stigmatize) having invented the whole story, in 
order, for his own sinister purpose, to deceive Marcian 
and Pulcheria; just, he says, as Juvenal forged cer- 
tain writings for the purpose of securing to himself 
the primacy of Jerusalem, — a crime laid to his charge 
also by Leo the Great, in his letter to Maximus, 
bishop of Antioch 9 . 

But the maintainers of the story of the Virgin's 
Assumption refer us with much confidence to the 
works of Gregory of Tours, who died at the very 
close of the sixth century, a.d, 595. On his testi- 
mony we need add little to the comments of his own 

s Melito himself was Bishop of Sardis in the second century. 
9 P. 879. See also Leo's Works, vol. i. p. 1215, Epist. cxix* 
where we still find the charge referred to by Le Quien. 



18 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

editor, one of the Benedictines. In his chapter " On 
the Apostles and the blessed Virgin," having referred 
to the ascension of our blessed Saviour, this Gregory 
thus proceeds: "At length the course of this lite 
having been fulfilled by the blessed Mary, when she 
was now called from the world, all the Apostles were 
o-athered together from every region to her house; 
and when they heard that she was to be taken from 
the world, they watched with her together. lhe 
Lord Jesus then came with his angels, and receiving | 
her soul, delivered it to Michael the archangel, and 
withdrew. And at the dawn, the Apostles took up her 
bodv, with the couch, and placed it in a tomb, and 
o-uarded it, waiting for the arrival of the Lord. And, 
behold ! again the Lord stood by them, and the holy 
corpse, taken up in a cloud, He ordered to be carried 
away into Paradise ; where now, having resumed her 
soul, exulting with her elect, she is enjoying the good 
things of eternity, which will never end 1 ." _ 

On this statement of Gregory of Tours, his Bene- 
dictine editor makes these remarks " What Gregory 
here relates concerning the death of the blessed Virgin, 
and its circumstances, beyond doubt he drew from 
that book of the Pseudo-Melito, concerning the re- 
moval of the blessed Virgin, which is classed by Pope 
Gelasius among the apocryphal books, and which is 
published in the Bibliotheca Patrum. Now that she 
died at Ephesus, is the opinion of learned men ; but 
no one before Gregory of Tours is found to have 
asserted in express words the resurrection ot the 
blessed Mary, and the Assumption of her body, and 
also her soul into heaven. Nevertheless, this opinion 
not long after prevailed in Gaul, so that it was even 
introduced into the Liturgy. Yet the Roman Saera- 
mentary of St. Gregory contains nothing of the kind. 
This editor then refers to several previous authors, 
amono- others to Adamnanus on Holy Places, to 



i Greg. Tur., Paris, 1699, p. 724. 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 19 

whose sentiments on the subject before us, he adverts 
in these words : " Of the sepulchre of the blessed 
Virgin Mary, which was shown near Jerusalem, in the 
Valley of Jehoshaphat, he thus speaks, — ; In which 
sepulchre being entombed she rested. But as to the 
same sepulchre—in what way, or at what time, or by 
what persons her holy corpse was removed, or else in 
what place she is waiting for the resurrection, no one 
as it is reported, can know for certain.'" 

^ On these passages from Gregory of Tours, and 
his annotator, we would briefly remark, 

That this Gregory is the first known to have 
asserted the Assumption of the Virgin, body and soul, 
as it is now held in the Roman Church ; 

That this account he drew from a forged work by one 
who is called the False Melito, the very work which 
just a century before (a.d. 494) the Roman Council, 
with Pope Gelasius at its head, denounced as apo- 
cryphal, and not to be read by the faithful, styling it 
%S The book called the Transitus, that is, the Assump- 
tion of the Blessed Virgin 2 ;" 

And that only after the time of this Gregory, the 
service of the Assumption crept into the Liturgy; and 
that there was nothing like the account of Gregory of 
Tours in the Sacramentary of Gregory the Great. 
To this latter point we shall have occasion again to 
advert. 

Another authority to which the writers on the As- 
sumption of the Virgin appeal, is Nicephorus Callistus, 
who at the end of the thirteenth, or beginning of the 
fourteenth century dedicated his work to Andronicus 
Palseologus. This Nicephorus was patriarch of Con- 
stantinople about the reign of our Edward I. or Edward 
II., and therefore cannot be quoted in any sense of 
the word as an ancient author writing on the events 
of the primitive ages ; and yet the manner of citing 
him by Roman Catholic writers would lead us to 
2 P. 1264. 



20 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

suppose that he was a person to whose evidence on 
early ecclesiastical affairs we ought now to defer. 
His account is as follows 3 :•— »••=_•. ' '. u 

« In the fifth year of Claudius, the Virgin, at the 
age of 59, was made acquainted with her approaching 
death. Christ himself then descended from heaven, 
with a countless multitude, to take up the soul of his 
mother, summoning his disciples, by thunder and 
storm, from all parts of the wor d. Hie Virgin then 
bade Peter first, and afterwards the rest of the Apostles, 
to come with burning torches. The Apostles sur- 
rounded her bed, and an outpouring of miracles 
flowed forth. The blind beheld the sun, the deaf 
heard, the lame walked, and every disease fled away. 
The Apostles and others sang as the body was borne 
from Sion to Gethsemane, angels preceding, sur- 
rounding, and following it. A wonderful thing then 
took place \ The Jews were indignant and enraged ; 
and one, more desperately bold than the rest, rushed 
forward, intending to throw down the holy corpse to 
the around. Vengeance was not tardy, for his hands 
werl cut off from his arms. The procession stopped ; 
and at the command of Peter, on the man shedding 
tears of penitence, his hands were joined on again, and 
were restored whole. At Gethsemane she was put 
into a tomb, but her Son translated her to the divine 

habitation." . X^ll 

Nicephorus then refers to Juvenal, as the author ty 
on which the tradition was received, that the Apostles 
opened the coffin to enable St. Thomas, the one stated 
to have been absent, to embrace the body ; and he 

3 Nicephorus, Paris, 1630, vol. i. p. 168, lib. ii * 21. ***** 
also refers to lib. xv. c. 14. , - _ \ ^ thp timp 

* This tradition seems to have been much V^fJ^Wj^ 
iwt Bi-ecedioo- our English Reformation. In a volume called lire 
Four* of ti e most Blessed Mary, according to the legitimate nte of 
of Salisbury," Paris/1526, the front spiece gtves £ exact 
renresentation of the story at the moment of the Jew s lianas uetn 
cutoff They are severed at the wrists and lying on the cofhn on 
whidfalso Is arms are resting. In the sky, the Vjrgu. appears, 
between the Father and the Son, the dove being seen above her. 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 21 

proceeds to describe the personal appearance and looks 
of the Virgin. 

It is unnecessary to dwell on such evidence as this; 
and yet on this evidence, one of the most solemn 
religious festivals in the Church of Rome, the crown 
and consummation of others, is built. Palpably it is not 
within the verge of credibility, that had such an event 
as the Virgin Mary's Assumption, an event so miracu- 
lous in its nature, and so important in its consequences, 
I taken place either under the extraordinary circum- 
|| stances which now envelope the tradition, or under 
| any combination of circumstances whatever, there 
i would have been a total silence respecting it in Holy 
| Scripture ; that the writers of the first four centuries 
should never have shown themselves cognizant of such 
an event ; that the first writer who alluded to any thing 
of the kind, should have lived in the middle of the 
fifth century, or later; and that even he should have 
declared, in a letter to his contemporaries, that the sub- 
! ject was one on which many doubts were entertained; 
and that he himself would not deny it, not because 
it rested on probable evidence, but because nothing is 
impossible with God. Can any confidence, moreover, 
be placed in the relation of a writer in the middle of 
the sixth centurv, as to a tradition of what an arch- 
bishop, attending the Council of Chalcedon, had told 
the emperor at Constantinople, concerning a tradition 
of what was said to have happened nearly four hundred 
years before ? Whereas, in the Acts of that Council, 
1 not the faintest trace is found of any allusion to the 
supposed fact or the alleged tradition ; though the 
transactions of that Council, in many of its most minute 
details, are recorded ; and though its discussions brought 
the name and circumstances of the Virgin Mary conti- 
nually, and with most lively interest, before the minds 
of all who attended it. And what dependence can be 
placed on the bare statement of a bishop of France, at 
j the very end of the sixth century, who is the first to 
assert that the Virgin Mary was taken, body and soul, 



22 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

into heaven, and whom his own Roman Catholic editor 
and annotator professedly declares to have drawn his 
account from the forged work of one„ whose very name 
proclaims the worthlessness of his testimony, the 
Pseudo-Melito ; the very work, too, which Pope 
Gelasius and the Roman Council pronounced, a cen- 
tury before, to be apocryphal, and which they forbade 
Christians to read. 

But we must not leave the present subject of in- 
vestigation, without adverting to an argument which 
is put forth in the present day with as much apparent 
confidence in its conclusiveness, as if it had undergone 
the most severe test, and been acknowledged to be valid; 
whereas, its utter worthlessness, in point of evidence, a 
very few words would demonstrate. Since, however, 
the nature of the evidence in question affects many 
points of interest beyond the single subject of our 
present inquiry, the 'time will not be lost which we 
may now give to a fuller elucidation of the point at 
issue. 

The persons who put forth the argument to which 
we refer, assert that all our reasonings drawn from the 
total silence of the Fathers of the first five .centuries, 
both Greek and Latin, as to the Assumption of the 
Virgin, with respect either to their own knowledge 
and belief, or to the practice of the Christian Church 
in their times, are worth nothing, so long as it can 
be shown that the festival of the Assumption was 
celebrated by the Church of Rome before the close 
of the fifth "century ; and this they maintain to be 
proved by our finding that festival in the Calendars and 
Sacrameiitaries, or service-books of those days. Es- 
pecially, it is urged, is this fact proved by the bacra- 
mentaries of Gregory the Great, who died a.d. o04, 
and of Pope Gelasius, who preceded him by a cen- 
tury, and also by what has been called » The Roman 
Calendar, of the fourth, or the early part of the tilth 
century, published by Martene." 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 23 

How utterly valueless, nay worse, how deceitful 
and misleading, are any conclusions drawn from these 
sources, is known to every one at all conversant 
with the subject, and is shown by the very books 
themselves, which are cited as depositaries of such 
evidence. 

In the first place, we would observe, that we by no 
means dispute the fact, either that Gregory and Ge- 
lasius themselves wrote, or, at least, superintended and 
sanctioned each a Sacramentary, containing, as our 
j Calendars and Liturgy contain, the Festival days, with 
the Collects, Gospels, &c. But that additions were 
i made to th ese Sacramentaries or Calendars from time 
j to time, is not only capable of proof by ourselves, 
; but has been long acknowledged and asserted, and 
maintained and reasoned upon, by the best Roman 
ritualists. Take, for example, Muratori himself, in 
his preface to the Sacramentary of Gelasius. Having 
urged what he regards as conclusive arguments, that 
I the work is correctly attributed to that pope, he pro- 
ceeds to give an answer to objections which had been 
made to his view; an answer which recognizes the 
only correct mode of estimating the value of such 
evidence as these Sacramentaries and old Calendars 
contain on any subject to which it can be applied. 
"But, it is said, additions were made to the Sa- 
cramentary itself, after the time of Gelasius ! We 
by no means, deny it. But this is no reason 
why St. Gelasius should not be called its au- 
thor. Why even the very Liturgy of Gregory is 
not denied to be his, merely because other prayers, 
and festivals, and rites were introduced into it after 
St. Gregory's time." Muratori then refers to certain 
feasts found in his time in the manuscripts of the 
Sacramentary of Gelasius, which were festivals of the 
Gallican and not the Roman Church ; the appearance 
therefore of which proves that the document did not 
| continue as Gelasius left it. He adds, " In it is also 
found the Mass for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, 



24 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

a feast which, as all learned men know (ut omnes 
erucliti norunt), was instituted after the time of 
Gelasius." This, he says, shows that the manuscript 
in question was written after the time of Gelasius; 
and since in the time of Charlemagne the Galhcan 
Liturgy was suppressed and the Roman substituted, 
he concludes that the manuscript was written before 
a.d. 800 5 . We need scarcely to remark that the 
appearance of the Assumption as a festival of the 
Roman Church in a Calendar at the close of the 
eighth century, cannot affect our question as to the 
worship of the Virgin through the first four centuries. 

The Calendar published by Martene, as a Roman 
Calendar of the end of the fourth or the commence- 
ment of the fifth century, needs not detain us long. 
Martene found two manuscripts which he judged to 
be of that age; one of which was, as they say 
(ut perhibent), given to a convent by Charlemagne. 
But of the dependence to be placed on his judgment 
and experience in such matters we know nothing; 
and the value of the testimony depends wholly on the 
age, not only of the manuscript itself generally, out 
also of the very entry about which any question is 
entertained. We have seen that the insertion of the 
Virgin's Assumption into the Chronicon of Eusebiusis 
now no longer denied to be spurious; and in those 
days when Calendars were not, as Almanacs are now, 
published annually, newly instituted feasts would 
naturally be inserted in old Calendars. But, after all, 
it is merely Martene's conjecture 6 that these manu- 
scripts contained the Roman Calendar at all, whatever 
were their age ; for neither of them was prefaced by any 
heading or title to that effect. The high antiquity fixed 
by Martene on those manuscripts cannot be maintained 
without setting at nought the deliberately pronounced 
judgment of critics and divines, of whose authority 
no Roman Catholic will speak lightly. For they 

5 Muratori, De Rebus Liturgicis, p. 53. 

6 Thesaur. Anec. vol. v. p. 76. 



f 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary* 25 

have both the feast of Hypapante on the 2nd of 
February, whereas Baronius 7 affirms that that feast 
was not observed till the fifteenth year of the Empe- 
ror Justinian, which was a.d. 542, nearly a century 
and a half later than the date assigned to these 
insulated manuscripts by Martene. 

But the testimony to which Christians are now no£ 
only confidently but triumphantly referred for demon- 
stration of the fact, that the Feast of the Assumption is 
older than the time of Gregory the Great, is the 
Sacramentary of that pontiff, in which it is found 
August 15, the day now observed as that festival in the 
Church of Rome. This question of the antiquity of the 
festivals does not involve merely a dry matter of fact, 
but has an immediate bearing on a most important and 
interesting subject, no less than the genuine or spurious 
character of many works attributed to the Fathers 
of the early Church. We would illustrate our mean- 
ing by a plain example. If it is clearly established 
that the festival of Hypapante, called also Simeon 
and Anna, and in more recent times the Purification, 
was not instituted till the fifteenth year of Justinian, 
a.d. 542 ; a Homily ascribed to Methodius, who lived 
in the third century, professing to have been preached 
on that festival, is proved by the same argument to be 
supposititious. 

But, in our inquiry into the degree of dependence 
which may be placed on the Sacramentary of Gregory 
the Great, as an historical document to be employed 
in verifying dates, we must observe, in the first place, 
that many centuries ago, at the close of the eighth, or 
the beginning of the ninth century, so great uncer- 
tainty was felt as to what was the genuine work of 
Gregory, and what were additions and interpolations 
made to it subsequently to his time, that three divines 8 
were appointed to distinguish the genuine from the 

7 Baronius; Paris, 1607, p. 57. Feb. 2. 

8 Du Pin, " Aucteurs Eccles." Mons, 1681, vol. v. p. 143. 
[660] B 



26 On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

spurious part. Buttliey could not agree as to what had 
been added ; and naturally, if the manuscripts to which 
they had access did not agree. These three divines were 
Rodrade, a monk of Tours ; Alcuin, otherwise called 
Albin, who was Charlemagne's master, and Grimoldas 
the abbot. The labours of the latter were published 
by Pamelius 9 nearly three centuries ago. Grimoldas 
maintained, that neither the festival of the Virgin's Na- 
tivity nor the Assumption was in Gregory's Sacramen- 
tal into which, as we have already seen (according to 
Muratori's assertion), festivals, as well as prayers and 
rites, were inserted since Gregory's time. Indeed 
Muratori, though pleading for the antiquity of the 
festival, distinctly says, that Gregory had not inserted 
it himself in his Sacramentary. 

Since that time, Menard published another copy oi 
Gregory's Sacramentary, which contained the festivals 
of St. Prix 1 , or Prsejectus, who died about a.d. 672, 
that is, sixty-eight years after Gregory's death, and 
of Leo II., who died twelve years still later than 
Prix. But it is a remarkable fact that, were all other 
proofs wanting, the very edition 1 to which we are now 
referred, bears in its forehead a palpably self-evident 
demonstration, that whoever rests on Gregory's Sacra- 
mentary as chronological evidence, builds on nothing 
that can stand the test of truth. For on l\ . Idus 
Mart., the day now observed by the Church of Rome 
as the anniversary of Gregory's death, the very Sacra- 
mentary to which appeal is now made, contains the 
service for the annual festival of Gregory himself, 
including collects praying for the benefit of his niter- 
cession. That is, the self-same evidence which is now 
cited to prove the Feast of the Assumption to have 
been celebrated before Gregory's death, proves, with 
equal satisfaction, that the solemnities on the anni- 
versaries of that pope's death were celebrated, and 



9 Pamelius ; Cologne, 15/1, vol. ii. p. 336. 388. 
i Acta Sanct. vol. ii. p. 629, 



On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 27 

that he was a canonized saint 2 , and that the efficacy 
of his intercession in heaven was prayed for while he 
himself was still alive bodily on earth, discharging his 
office as the sovereign pontiff of Rome. 

And thus the Assumption of the Virgin, tried by 
Holy Scripture, by the testimony of the early Church, 
and on the very evidence proffered in its support by 
its advocates, proves to be in truth " a fond thing, 
vainly invented," built on no ground which reason 
or faith can rest their foot upon. 



2 Greg. Paris, 1705, p. 30. 



THE END. 



Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London, 

I 
I 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



No. XII. 



ON THE 



WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN. 

EVIDENCE OF THE EARLY CHURCH 
AGAINST IT. 




LONDON: 

Printed for the 

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, 
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE ; 
AND I5Y ALL BOOKSELLERS. 



[661] 



1846. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts form part of a series intended to be 
issued, on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published 
I. On the Supremacy of the Pope. 

II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

IV. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evi- 

dence of the Old Testament against it. 

V. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evi- 

dence of the New Testament against it. 

VI. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evi- 

dence of the Primitive Church against it. 

VII. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Primitive Church against it — 
[continued]. 

VIIL On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. — 
Doctrine and Authorized Services of the 
Church of Rome. 
IX. On the Worship of the Virgin.— Practical Work- 
ing of the System. 

X. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.— Evidence 

of Holy Scripture against it. 

XI. On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

XII. On the Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence of the 

Early Church against it. 
XIII On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.— Evidence 

of the Primitive Church against it— [continued]. 
XIV. On the Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence of the 

Primitive Church against it — [continued], 
XV On the Romish Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence 

of the Primitive Church against it— [continued]. 
XVI. On the Romish Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence 

of the Primitive Church against it— [concluded]. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



On the Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence of the Early 
Church against it 

Before we proceed to examine the evidence con- 
I cejning the worship of the Virgin Mary, as it is sup- 
| plied by the works of the Fathers of the primitive 
Church, we would repeat on this subject the sentiments 
which we professed, before we entered on the corre- 
sponding inquiry with reference to the invocation of 
saints and angels. We are led, then, to examine the 
evidence of Christian antiquity not by any misgiving 
lest the testimony of Scripture on the point might ap- 
pear defective or doubtful ; far less by any idea of God's 
word needing the support of man's suffrage. On 
the contrary, the voice of God in his revealed word 
j gives to us no faint or uncertain sound, as it warns us 
against offering prayers, or any religious worship, 
or any invocation to the Virgin Mary; and it is a 
fixed principle with all right-minded Christians, that 
wherever God's written word is clear and certain, 
no human evidence can be weighed against it. But 
in testing the soundness of our interpretation of that 
| word, the works of the earliest writers of the Church 
are most truly valuable; and in our investigation 

a 2 



4 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

of the prevalence of any doctrine and practice of 
primitive times, those ancient records are indispen- 

Now let us here, too, for argument's sake, suppose, 
that instead of the oracles of God having spoken, as we 
have seen, clearly and certainly on this point, the ques- 
tion had been left in Scripture an open question ; then 
what evidence would be deducible from the writings 
of the primitive Church as to the worship of the 
Viro-in Mary? What testimony do the first ages, 
after the canon of Scripture is closed, bear upon 
this point? When we, of the Church of England, 
religiously abstain from presenting any address in the 
nature of prayer, or supplication, entreaty, request, or 
invocation of whatever kind, and from acts ot re- 
ligious worship and praise to the Virgin, are we, or 
ar'e we not, treading in the steps of the first Christians, 
and adhering to the very pattern which they setf 
And do the members of the Church of Rome by 
such acts of worship directed to the Virgin Mary, 
as we find in their authorized and appointed liturgies, 
and in their works of private devotions, or do they 
not, depart as far ana as decidedly from the model 
of primitive Christianity, as they do from the plain 
sense of Holy Scripture ? , , , 

The result of a careful examination of the body ot 
Christian writers is an entire assurance, that, at the 
least, through the first five centuries, the worship 
of the Virgin now insisted upon by the decrees ot 
the Council of Trent, prescribed by the Roman 
ritual, and actually practised in the Church of Rome, 
had neither name, nor place, nor existence among 
Christians. No single remark of any of these 
writers leads us to infer that the worship of the Virgin 
was known in their times. On the contrary, their 
silence, and that often on occasions when their silence 
is irreconcilable with their possessing knowledge on the 
subject, proves them to have been unconscious ot any 
such doctrine and practice as now prevail in the 



Evidence of the Early Church against it. 5 

Church of Rome. But besides this, which may be called 
negative evidence, the principles which they habitu- 
ally maintain, and the sentiments with which their 
works abound, are utterly inconsistent with such 
belief and practice. This might be exemplified in 
other cases, but more especially is it forced on our 
notice when we find many of the most venerable 
Fathers of the Church, in their comments on the 
passages of Scripture which record the actions of the 
Virgin, directly 1 charging her with errors and failings, 
altogether incompatible with those views of her per- 
fections, which the doctrines of the Church of Rome 
put before us. It is also worthy of remark, that 

j the spurious writings ascribed to the Fathers 2 , of 
a date not more remote at furthest than the seventh 
century, abound with ascriptions of power, and mercy, 
and glory to the Virgin, with declarations of implicit 
belief in her influence and intercession, and with 
prayers to her for temporal and spiritual blessings; 

I while for any traces of such, the genuine works of 
the same Fathers will be searched in vain. 

Among those, indeed, who adhere to the Triden- 
tine confession of faith, there are some on whom such 
an investigation, as we are now instituting, would 
have no influence. The sentiments of Huet, the 
Roman Catholic commentator and bishop, wherever 
they are adopted, would set aside such inquiries alto- 
gether. His words in his dissertations on Origen, 
are of far wider application than the immediate oc- 
casion on which he used them : " That the blessed 
Mary never conceived any sin in herself is, in the 
present day, an established principle in the Church, 

! and confirmed by the Council of Trent ; in which it 

1 This will hereafter be shown to be the case with Irenaeus, Tertul- 
lian, Origen, Basil, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Cyril of 
Alexandria. 

2 This we find exemplified in the spurious works of Ignatius, 
j Methodius, Athanasius, Gregory Thaumaturgus, Gregory of Nazi- 
I anzum, Ephraim Syrus, Chrysostom, Augustine, Cyril of Alexandria, 

Pope Leo, &c. 

! A 3 



6 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

is our duty to acquiesce, rather than in the dicta of 
the ancients, should any of them appear to think other- 
wise, among whom must be numbered Origen V 

In entering upon our present inquiry, we take for 
granted that the reader is open to conviction, desirous 
of arriving at the truth, and as one efficient^ means of 
attaining It, ready to sift honestly and patiently the 
evidence of the primitive Church. 



Ancient Creeds. 

At this stage of our inquiry it will not be out of place 
to observe, that in the most ancient creeds there is no 
intimation whatever of any idea being entertained 
.when they were framed, as to the posthumous exal- 
tation of the Virgin, her assumption into heaven, 
the invocation of her name, reliance on her merits 
and patronage, or belief in her intercession. Many 
creeds are recorded in the early writers, in which 
the incarnation of the Son of God is an article in- 
variably inserted, and in some cases largely dwelt 
upon ; but the phrases employed refer to no dignity 
of his mother's nature, no mediatorial office assigned 
to her, no power granted to her of benefiting man- 
kind, nor any adoration of her name. The three 
creeds now usually employed in the Church, afford 
conjointly a fair specimen of the language and senti- 
ments of the rest; some of which mention the Virgin 
Mary by name, while others do not allude to her 
further than does St. Paul, " God sent forth his Son 
made of a woman 4 ." "He was conceived of the 
Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary V " He 
was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin 
Mary 6 ." " God of the substance of his Father, be- 
gotten before the worlds, and Man of the substance of 
his mother, born in the world 7 ." Thus some of the 

3 Origen, vol. iv. part ii. p. 156, Paris, 1733. 

* GalTivU. « Apostles' Creed. 6 Mcene. 7 Athanasian. 



Ancient Creeds* 7 

ancient creeds say, " who was incarnate and made 
man," without any reference to his mother; others, 
1 " born of a Virgin 8 ;" others, " born of Mary others, 
; " born of the Virgin Mary 9 not one referring to her, 
| except as the mother of the Incarnate^ Word, not one 
alluding at all to her dignity, her authority, or her 
present state. In this respect they all essentially 
differ from the " creed of Pope Pius IV.," to the 
belief in the truth of which ministers of the Church 
of Rome are bound, as containing articles of faith, 
without which there is no salvation K That Creed not 
only announces that the saints reigning with Christ 
are to be woisshipped, but while it asserts generally 
| that due honour and worship must be paid to other 
saints, it joins, in a marked manner, the images of 
66 Christ and the Virgin Mary " together, in contra- 
distinction to the others. Of such things as these 
there is no more a trace to be found in any of the 
ancient creeds, than in the Holy Scripture itself. 

Evidence of Primitive Christian Writers, 

For a brief notice of the times, the circumstances, 
and the works of the Fathers, which are cited in the 
course of our present inquiry, down to the middle of 
the fourth century, the reader is referred to a former 
Tract (No. 6 and 7 of this Series), in which the evidence 
of primitive writers is examined as to the worship of 
saints and angels. Of those authors who flourished 
after Athanasius, similar short notices will be pre- 
fixed to their testimonies upon the subject under con- 
sideration. 

The Apostolic Fathers 2 . 
Of the remains of those five writers who are usually 

8 Irenaeus, lib. i. c. 2. 9 Tertullian, De Praescr. c, 13. 

1 Catechism, ad Parachos, Lugduni, WS6, p. 521. 

2 Antwerp, 1698. 

1 A 4 



8 On the Worship of the Virgin* 

called Apostolic Fathers, we have no means of affixing 
the date to each with any confidence in its accuracy. 
No reasonable doubt, however, is entertained that 
they were all in existence long before the Council of 
Nice, a.d. 325* 

h In the Epistle of St. Barnabas, which gives 
directions on the subject of prayer, no mention is 
made of the Virgin Mary. 

2. In the Shepherd of Hermas, while the same 
silence is observed with regard to the Virgin, the Son 
of God is declared to be the Gate, and The Onl? 
Way to God 3 , in language which contrasts itself 
very strongly with the prayers of modern Rome, 
which address Mary as the " Gate of heaven," and 
implores her to be " our way to God." 

3. Clement, bishop of Rome. The writings of this 
primitive father become perhaps the more interesting 
in our present inquiry, as containing the sentiments of 
one of the earliest bishops of that Church, whose pre- 
sent belief and practice we are now testing by the 
evidence of primitive times. And so far from a single 
word occurring which might lead us to suppose that this 
Clement was cognizant of any invocation of the Virgin, 
or any reliance on her intercession prevailing among 
Christians, his evidence against it is more than nega- 
tive. For though he speaks of angels and of holy 
men of old who pleased God, such as Enoch, Abra- 
ham, David, Elijah, and Job; though he bids us think 
of St. Peter and St. Paul, looking to them with reve- 
rence and gratitude, in order that we may imitate 
their good examples; he never alludes to the Virgin 
Mary ; and even when he speaks of our blessed Lord 
having descended from Abraham according to the 
flesh, he makes no mention of that daughter^ Abra- 
ham of whom the Christ was born. 

4. In St. Ignatius we find no trace of any invoca- 
tion of the Virgin, or of any dependence on her merits. 



3 Sim. ix. sect. 12. 



Apostolic Fathers. 



9 



This early martyr speaks of the twofold nature of 
Christ again and again. Thus, he says, " there is one 
physician both of a corporeal and of a spiritual nature ; 
begotten and not begotten ; God in the flesh ; true 
life in death ; both from Mary and from God \" 
"Our physician is the only true God, ungenerated 
and unapproachable, the Lord of all things, the Father 
and Generator of the only-begotten Son. We have 
also for our physician, our Lord God Jesus Christ, 
who was before the world, the only-begotten Son and 
the Word, but also afterwards Man of the Virgin 
Mary, for the Word was made flesh 5 ." " Son of God, 
and Son of Man according to the flesh of the seed of 
David." 

Unhappily we are thus early in our inquiry com- 
pelled to advert to the unjustifiable expedient of quot- 
ing for evidence spurious passages, and urging them 
with all confidence, in support of a favourite doctrine. 
Alphonsus Liguori, canonized by the present Pope 
in 1839, thus quotes Ignatius, in defence of the pre- 
sent Roman doctrine concerning the Virgin's attri- 
butes and saving power : 

" Before Bonaventura, St. Ignatius had pronounced 
that a sinner can be saved only by having recourse to 
the blessed Virgin, whose infinite mercy obtains sal- 
vation for those who would be condemned by infinite 
justice. Some pretend that the text is not taken from 
Ignatius, but we know that St. Chrysostom attributes 
it to him 6 ." 

After what wc fame before said, it is scarcely neces- 
sary to add, that in no one of the works of St. 
Ignatius can any allusion to such a position be dis- 
covered ; and though Liguori says, " We know that St. 
Chrysostom attributes it to Ignatius," yet not only has 
the work of that fattier on the life and character of 
Ignatius, but also every other part of his works, been 
carefully and repeatedly searched for any allusion 

4 Epist. to Ephes. p 13. 5 P. 48. 6 Dublin, 1843, p. 190. 
A 5 



10 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

to such a statement, but not the slightest trace can be 
discovered. In the course of our present investigation, 
we shall too often be reminded of the recklessness and 
eager anxiety with which the system of quoting spu- 
rious works as genuine, and of referring to works 
which cannot be discovered, has been pursued. 

5. In St. Polycarp, usually ranked as the last of the 
Apostolic Fathers, we find no allusion to the merits or 
intercession of Mary. 

In bringing to a close this brief reference to the 
Apostolic Fathers, the same question offers itself to 
us under different circumstances, but with great co- 
gency under all. If the doctrine and practice of 
worshipping the Virgin as Roman Catholics now do, 
if the doctrine of her mediatorial office, if the practice 
of praying to her even for her intercession, if reliance 
on her power, and influence, and merits had been 
known and acted upon by the Apostles themselves, 
and those who were successors or disciples of the Apos- 
tles, would not some plain unequivocal indications of 
it appear in such writings as these, in which much is 
said of prayer, and repeated reference is made to the 
incarnation of the Son of God ? Does it accord with 
common sense and ordinary experience that there 
should be in these writings a profound and total silence 
on the subject of invoking the Virgin Mary for her 
good offices, if invocation addressed to the Virgin had 
been known, approved, and practised in the primitive 
Church ? 

Justin Martyr > a.d. 150 7 . 

Justin Martyr refers to the Virgin Mary In her 
character as the mother of our Lord 8 ; but we discover 
no trace of any notion of her power or influence, of 
any invocation addressed to her, of any thought of her 
merits to be pleaded in our behalf, or of any regard to 
her as a mediator and intercessor ; we find no epithet 

" Ed, Paris, 1742. 8 Trypho, sect. 100, p. 195. 



Justin Martyr. 



11 



expressive of honour, dignity, or exaltation beyond 
what we, as members of the Church of England, 
habitually use ourselves. " He therefore calls him- 
self the Son of Man, either because of his birth 
of a virgin, who was of the race of David and 
Jacob, and Isaac and Abraham ; or because Abraham 
himself was the father of those persons enumerated, 
from whom Mary drew her origin." And a little be- 
low he adds — " For Eve being a virgin, and uncorrupt* 
having received the word from the serpent, brought 
forth transgression and death ; but Mary, the Virgin, 
having received faith and joy (on the angel Gabriel 
announcing to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of 
the Lord should come upon her, and the power of the 
Highest overshadow her), answered, 6 Be it unto me 
according to thy word.' And of her was He born of 
whom we have shown that so many Scriptures have 
been spoken ; He by whom God destroys the serpent ? 
and angels and men resembling [the serpent] ; but 
works a rescue from death for such as repent of evil 
and believe in Him." In another place he says, "Ac- 
cording to the command of God, Joseph, taking Him 
together with Mary, went into Egypt." 

In the volume containing Justin's works are " Ques- 
tions and Answers to the Orthodox," which, as it is 
agreed on all sides, are not his, but the productions 
of a later hand. The arguments appear strong, which 
assign them to a Syrian Christian as their author, who 
lived in the fifth century or even later. Among 
the doubts and difficulties and objections which are 
made and answered in these Questions, this inquiry 
is proposed, " How could Christ be free from blame, 
who so often set at nought his parents?" The 
answer is, "He did not set his mother at nought; 
He honoured her in deed, and would not hurt her by 
his words 9 ." But to this the respondent adds, that 
Christ chiefly honoured Mary in that view of her 
maternal character, under which all who heard the 

9 Ques. 136, p. 500. 
A 6 



12 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

word of God and kept it were his brothers, and sisters, 
and mother ; and that she who surpassed all women in 
virtue was therefore chosen to be the mother of the 
Saviour. 

Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus. 

In the same volume with the works of Justin Mar- 
tyr, the Benedictines have published the remains of 
these three learned Christians of the second century ; 
and in defence of some doctrines of the Roman 
Church, those editors appeal to the works of each of 
these authors separately. 

Tatian, by birth an Assyrian, and pupil of Justin 
Martyr, led a life marked beyond others by severe 
austerity. One work of his, "An Address to the 
Greeks," remains to the present time, in which he 
exposes the follies and immoral tendencies of their 
mythology. In the course of his argument, men- 
tioning by name many of the females whom the Greek 
poets had celebrated, he compares them with the 
modest, chaste, and retired habits of Christian virgins 1 , 
who, he says, as they are occupied with their distaff, 
speak of heavenly things, and of what they learn from 
God's oracles, far more admirably than Sappho could 
sing her immoral strains. The question forces itself 
on our mind, as we read such portions of his address 
as these, Could a Christian writer have here abstained 
from speaking of the Virgin Mary, if she had been 
the same object of his invocation, the same source of 
his hope, the same theme of his praise as she now>is 
with her worshippers in the Roman communion? 
Could he have passed her by unnamed, without al- 
luding to her honour on earth, or her exaltation to 
heaven, and her influence there ? 

In the two other authors, we find no reference made 
to the Virgin Mary 2 . Theophilus, indeed, speaks of 



} C. 33, p. 270. 



2 Lib. it c. 22, 



IrencBUs. 13 

"God the Word begotten from everlasting of the 
Father;'^ and it is remarkable that in his translation 
of the third chapter of Genesis, he applies the pro- 
mise of bruising the serpent's head, not to the woman, 
as the Roman version applies it, but to her seed. 



St. IrenauS) a.d. 180. 

Next to Justin, who sealed his faith by his blood, 
about a.d. 165, we must examine the evidence of St. 
Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons. Of his works a very small 
proportion is known to survive in the original Greek; 
and we must avail ourselves of the nervous, but in- 
elegant Latin translation, corrupt and imperfect in 
many parts as it unfortunately is. One passage 3 in 
Irenseus, closely resembling a passage we have just 
quoted from Justin Martyr, is cited by Bellarmin and 
others, as justifying the invocation of the Virgin Mary; 
but it is entirely beside the mark. The passage is 
rendered word for word : " For as that one, (Eve,) by 
the discourse of an angel, was seduced to fly from God, 
running counter to his word, so also this one, (Mary,) 
by the discourse of an angel, received the glad tidings, 
that she should bear God. And as that one was 
seduced to fly from God, in like manner also this one 
was persuaded to obey God; so that of the virgin Eve 
the Virgin Mary might become the advocate ; and as 
the human race was bound to death by a virgin, it 
might be loosed by a virgin, a virgin's disobedience 4 
being disposed of in an equal scale by a virgin's obedi- 
ence." Cardinal Bellarmin stops short at the word 
advocate, and exclaims, €t What can be clearer ?" 

Now in whatever sense Irenseus may be supposed 
to have < employed the Greek word here rendered in 
the Latin version advocata, it is difficult to see how 
the circumstance of Mary becoming the advocate of 



Lib. v, c. 19, p. 3)6. 



4 The closing sentence is imperfect. 



14 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

Eve, who so many generations before Mary's birtli 
had been removed to the other world, can bear upon 
the question, whether it is lawful for a Christian now 
dwelling on earth to invoke the Virgin Mary. 

But in our own days another most startling sense is 
applied to the closing words of Irenseus in the same 
ParaGraph. The comment being founded on unques- 
tionably an untenable 5 reading, to prove the unsound- 
ness of the reading would have been enough, had not 
the interpretation now given to the passage supplied 
a palpable instance of the deplorable extent to which 
the doctrine of the Virgin's merits as affecting man s 
salvation is carried by our contemporaries. We shall 
scarcely find even in Bonaventura or the Bernardines 
a more entire sacrifice of Christian truth to the theory 
of the Virgin's exaltation and prerogatives. The 
writer to whom we refer having maintained that the 
words « Death by Eve, Life by Mary," are frequently 
found in the Fathers, and "imply that the Virgin had 
more than a mechanical share in the world's redemp- 
tion," afterwards proceeds to say, " Now observe the 
very strong language of St. Irenseus : Quemadmodum 
astrictum est morti genus humanum per Virginem, sal- 
vatur per Virginem, aqua lance disposita virginahs 
inohedientia per virginalem obedientiam. That is in 
common parlance, ■ The merits of Mary were so 

GREAT AS TO COUNTERBALANCE THE SIN OF EvE I 

We need not dwell on so monstrous and shocking a 
perversion of the meaning of Irenseus as this would 
have been, even had the reading been salvatur, be- 
cause beyond all doubt the proper reading is sohatur. 
Whether the passage be tried by the external evi- 
dence of printed editions from a date further back 
than three hundred years ; or of the best manuscripts, 
or of ancient quotations ; or by the internal evidence of 
what the sense requires, and of the sentiments and 
language of Irenseus in other parts of his work, the 



5 Dublin Review, June, 1844. 



Trenails. 



15 



old reading solvatur must be restored. The idea pre- 
sent to the mind of Irenseus, and repeatedly embodied 
by him in words is, that the knot by which Eve's 
unfaithfulness 6 bound the human race was loosed 
by the Virgin's faithfulness in becoming the mother 
of the Saviour. The old and true reading here pre- 
serves the correlativeness of the terms of the passage ; 
the new reading, first introduced by Grabe in 1702, 
at once destroys it. * 

How far Irenseus was from thus exalting Mary into 
a Saviour, whose merits counterbalanced Eve's sin in 
yielding to Satan, and involving mankind in her fall, 
is evident to any one who reads his remains. In 
referring to the mother of our Lord, he speaks of 
" Mary" or " the Virgin," or « Mary, who hitherto 
was a virgin, 5 ' without any adjunct or term of rever- 
ence, never alluding either to her influence with God, 
or to any practice among Christians of invoking her. 
Of the Incarnation he thus speaks : " This Son of 
God is our Lord, being the Word of the Father and 
the Son of Man; since of Mary, who derived her 
origin from man, and was herself a human being, he 
had his generation according to man. Wherefore also 
the Lord Himself gave us a sign in the depth, and 
height above, which man asked not for, because he 
hoped not that a virgin could conceive, remaining a 
virgin, and bring forth a son ; and that child is God 
with us." 

Although the expressions of Irenseus as to Mary's 
unworthy and unjustifiable haste for our Lord to display 
his power at the marriage feast in Cana, are not so strong 
in condemnation of her as many which we shall here- 
after find in various fathers of the early Church, yet 
it may be asked would any one holding the doctrines 
of modern Rome as to the Virgin's perfectness, have 
given utterance to such sentiments as these which we 
find in Irenseus 7 : 



See lib. iii, c, 22, p. 220. 



7 Lib. iii. c. 18, p. 206. 2. 



16 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

n All these things were foreknown by the Father, 
but are accomplished by the Son, .... at the nt 
time. Wherefore when Mary hastened to the won- 
derful miracle of the wine, and wished before the 
time to partake of that cup 8 , the Lord repelling her 
untimely hurrying, said, ' What have I to do with 
thee, woman? mine hour is not yet come, waiting for 
that hour which was foreknown by the Father. 



St. Clement of Alexandria, a.d. 190 9 . 

On this father's testimony, we have little to add to 
what has been already observed in our examination ot 
his evidence on the invocation of saints and angels. 
He speaks of Mary, and of her virgin-state when she 
became a mother, and of the mystery of Christ s birth ; 
but he speaks of her without one word of honour. 
The language which we before quoted, as used by 
Clement; to convince the Greeks of their unsoundness 
in supposing that any beings in the unseen world 
ought to be worshipped by men, because that tor 
their exalted purity they were permitted by Providence 
to be conversant about earthly places, and to minister 
to mortals, is altogether irreconcilable with the idea 
of his ever having invoked Mary, or sought by 
prayer her aid. 

Tertullian, a.d. 190. 

Referring the reader to a former number 1 for Ter- 
tullian's evidence generally against the invocation of 
saints and angels, or any created being, we must here 
confine ourselves to his testimony as to the worship ot 

s The word is Compendii poculo— meaning the cup of wine made 
immediately by Christ, and not through the medium of the grape. 

^&£$3^* ' No. VII. of these Tracts. 



Clement of Alexandria. Tertullian. 17 

the Virgin Mary. He tells us in one passage, that 
Christ was born of a virgin, who was also to be once 

1 married after his birth, that in Him the two titles of 
sanctity might be distinctly marked, by a mother who 

j was both a virgin and also once married ; but in no 
passage can we discover any thing approaching the 
modern doctrine. On the contrary, Tertullian's evi- 
dence is not merely negative on this precise point ; 
for, like Chrysostom's and others, his sentiments with 

I regard to the Virgin Mary are altogether conclusive 

j on the subject under investigation. It is inconceivable 
that any man accustomed, as members of the Roman 

| Church now are, to confide in her merits, to seek her 

j protection and favour, to invoke her name in prayer, 
and to offer her religious praises, could have enter- 

| tained such sentiments as we shall now quote, and 
which Tertullian repeats in other places with only 
some slight variation of language : 
^ " But what reason is there for the answer which 

j disowned his mother and his brethren ? The brothers 
of the Lord had not believed on Him, as it is con- 
tained in the Gospel, which existed before Marcion's 
time. His mother also is not shown to have adhered 
to Him, whereas other Marys and Marthas were often 
in his company. Finally, their unbelief is made 
manifest by this : — While He was preaching the way 
of life, while He was preaching the kingdom of God, 
while He was engaged in curing sicknesses and evils, 
at a time when strangers were fixedly intent upon 
Him, then persons so nearly related to Him were 

| absent. At last they come up, and stand outside 
the door, and do not enter; not thinking, forsooth, 
of what was going on there : nor do they wait, just 
as though they were bringing something more ur- 
gent than the business in which He was then chiefly 
occupied. Now, Apelles and Marcion, I ask you 
if, perchance, when you were playing at chess, or 

I disputing about players or charioteers, you had been 
called away by such a message, would you not have 



18 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

said, 6 Who is my mother, and who are my brethren ? 
And while Christ was preaching and setting forth 
God, fulfilling the law and the prophets, dispersing 
the darkness of so many ages, did He, without rea- 
sonable cause, employ this saying, to strike at the 
unbelief of those who stood without, or to shake off 
the importunity of those who were calling Him away 
from his work 2 ?" 

In another place 3 , commenting on the same transac- 
tion, Tertullian says, " Thy mother and thy brethren 
stand without, desiring to speak with thee. Christ, 
with reason, felt indignant, that while strangers were 
bent intently on his discourse, persons so nearly re- 
lated to Him should stand without ; seeking, moreover, 
to call Him away from his solemn work V 

Origen, a.d. 280. 

In our examination of the testimony of Origen on 
the subject of invoking, by prayer, saints and angels, 
we quoted the following passage, which we are in- 
duced to repeat here, not only on account of its 
intrinsic value, but also because it suggests an un- 
answerable argument against our supposing^ tfiat the 
doctrine and practice of the worship of the Virgin de- 
rives any countenance from Origen. 

" The one God, the God who is over all, is to be 
propitiated by us, and to be appeased by prayer— the 
God who is rendered favourable by piety and all 
virtue. But if Celsus is desirous to propitiate after 
the Supreme God, some others, also, let him bear in 
mind, that just as a body in motion is accompanied by 
the motion of its shadow, so also by rendering the 
Supreme God favourable, it follows that the person 

2 De Came Christi, vii. p. 315, . 

s Chrvsostom emplovs stronger language than Tertuihan, in reflect- 
ing on the conduct of Mary and the Lord's brothers on this occa- 
sion. 

4 Adv. Ivlarc. iv. 19, p. 433. 



/ 



Origen. 19 

I lias all his friends, angels, souls, spirits, favourable 
j also ; for they sympathise with those who are worthy 
j of God's favour ; and not only do they become kindly 
affected towards the worthy, but they also join with 
those in their work who desire to worship the Su- 
preme God; and they propitiate him, and pray with 
us, and supplicate for us. We, therefore, boldly say, 
that together with men who, on principle, prefer the 
better part, and pray to God, ten thousands of holy 
powers join in prayer UNASKED " — [unbidden, 

j UNCALLED UPON, UN INVOKED.] 

What an opportunity had Origen here to state, 
j that though Christians did not call upon angels, and 
j the subordinate divinities of heathenism, yet that, 
together with other holy persons, objects of their 
I prayers in the unseen world, they called upon the 
Virgin Mary, the mother of their Saviour, " The 
Queen of Heaven/' " The Gate of Heaven," « The 
Way to Heaven," in whom " the Supreme God was 
j well pleased," and who could " succour and save 
whom she would 5 !" 

Instead of this we find Origen in one place referring 
to the Virgin Mary 6 , just as we should ourselves speak 
of her, as one not like other mothers, but as a pure 
virgin, and, therefore, not subject to the Levitical law 
concerning matrons 6 . In another he speaks of " the 
announcement to Zacharias of the birth of John, and 
to Mary, of the advent of our Saviour among men %" 
making no difference of dignity between the father of 
1 the Baptist, and the mother of our Lord. But. not 
one word is found to intimate Origen's belief, or the 
belief of the Church at his time, in the influence 
and advocacy of Mary, or the practice of the Church, 
or of himself, in praying to her for her succour and 
intercession. 

5 Cont. Cels. b. viii. 64, vol. i. p.- 789. See also b. viii. vol. i. p. 
j 786; b. y.p. 579; b. viii. p. 751 . 

6 In Levit. Horn. viii. vol. ii. p. 228. 

I , 7 Comment on John, sec. 24, vol. iv. p. 82. 

I I . h ■ . . 



i 



20 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

But the positive testimony of Origen is^ very 
strong against the present doctrine and practice of 
the Church of Rome. The critic and divine M. 
Huet, charges Origen with holding unsound tenets, 
" contrary to the doctrine of the Church of Rome at 
the present day and to the Council of Trent." The 
third error laid to his charge is that, whereas " the 
Church and that Council maintain that the Virgin 
Mary never had sin, Origen holds that she was not 
only liable to sin, but was actually guilty of it 8 ;" and | 
in proof of this charge Huet quotes Origen's comment 
of St. Luke, c. ii. 

"What is that sword that pierced through the 
hearts, not only of others, but of Mary also? It is 
plainly written that at the time of the passion aH the 
Apostles were offended, the Lord Himself saying, 
6 All you shall be offended this night.' So all were 
offended to such a degree, that Peter also, the chief 
of the Apostles, thrice denied Him. What! do 
we suppose' that when the Apostles were offended, 
the mother of our Lord was free from feeling of- 
fence ? If she did not feel offence in our Lord's suffer- 
ing, Jesus did not die for her sins. But if all have 
sinned, and come short of the glory of God, being 
justified by his grace and redeemed, surety Mary, 
too, was offended at that time. And this is what 
Simeon now prophesies, saying, And through thy 
own soul, thou who knowest that without a husband 
thou broughtest forth, who didst hear the voice of 
Gabriel, < The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee/ 
shall the sword of unbelief pierce ; and thou shalt be 
struck by the sharp point of doubt, when thou shalt see 
Him whom thou heardest to be the Son of God, and 
whom thou knowest that thou broughtest forth without 
a husband, crucified and dying, and subject to human 
sufferings 9 ." 

In the same charge, and not without reason, Huet 



8 Vol. iv. p. 156, Appendix. 9 Horn, in Luc. xvii. vol. iii. p. 952. 



Gregory Thaumaturgus. 21 

implicates Basil, Chrysostom, Cyril, and others. 
The fact is, that a large portion of the ancient 
Fathers of the Church speak freely on the want of 
faith in the Virgin Mary, or the imperfection and 
weakness of her faith. 

Gregory Thaumaturgus, a.d. 245 \ 

The name of this Gregory, a bishop of Csesarea, in 
Pontus, was originally Theodorus; and his name 
Thaumaturgus, or the Wonder- Worker, was given 
him in consequence of the number of miracles which 
were ascribed to him. Much of what is doubtful 
and unsatisfactory hangs over his life, and over the 
writings now attributed to him. His miracles are 
such as to have induced most persons to regard them 
as merely fabulous exaggerations of some acts of 
benevolence and Christian charity. Among other 
supernatural works, he is said, by a prayer, to have 
removed a mountain, which prevented the building of 
a church ; to have dried up a lake which had been 
the cause of some discord; and by planting his staff 
on the river Lycus (the staff immediately growing 
into a tree), to have prevented that river from ever 
after inundating the land, or extending its flood be- 
yond that tree. 

We have already referred to a catalogue of authors 
and their works, drawn up by Pope Gelasius and a 
Roman Council, at the close of the fifth century, which 
admits some works as genuine, and orthodox, and 
rejects others as apocryphal, or dangerous ; and the 
approved authors are recorded in the Roman canon 
Jaw as authoritative teachers. But in that catalogue 
no mention whatever is made either of this Gregory 
or his works. Still, since Bellarmin and other contro- 
versialists often appeal to him, it is not safe to omit 
all inquiry into his evidence. 

1 Paris, 1622. 



22 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

He was a disciple of Origen on whom he wrote a 
panegyric, which Jerome reports to have been extant 
in his" time; he also wrote a work on the Book of 
Ecclesiastes, also mentioned by Jerome, and which 
has come down to the present day. In these works, 
the genuineness of which is not doubted, not the 
slightest trace can be found of any reference to the 
Virgin, or any praises to her name. 

But to these Vossius added some others, including 
three discourses delivered in honour of the Virgin, 
upon the Feast of the Annunciation, which either had 
never before been brought to light, or had never before 
been published as Gregory's, one having been pre- 
viously circulated as a work of Athanasius. These 
writings are beyond question spurious. In the first 
place, neither does Jerome in his enumeration of the 
works of this Gregory, nor does any other ancient 
writer allude to them. Again, they profess to have 
been delivered on the Festival of the Annunciation, 
which is proved by satisfactory arguments not to have 
been observed before the seventh century. This is 
shown in the Appendix to the " Romish Worship of 
the Virgin," p. 370, and the proofs need not be re- 
peated here. Many celebrated critics also have pro- 
nounced these homilies to be spurious, among whom 
are Cave and Dupin. Lumper also, at some length, 
proves them to be of a much later date than Gregory's 
age. Bellarmin himself rejects at once two of these 
new works ascribed by Vossius to this Gregory; and 
of these very homilies he says, " I entertain no certain 
opinion, for the ancients have made no mention of them, 
and yet cannot it be proved that they are spurious." 

Here we must observe, with surprise and pain, 
that while Bellarmin 2 , in his zeal to maintain the 
antiquity of the Feast of the Annunciation, cites the 
homily (which Vossius here ascribes to Gregory) as 

2 Bellarmin, Prague, 1721, vol. ii. p. 515. Bellarmin, Cologne, 
1617, vol. vii. p. 50. 



Gregory Thaumaturgus. 23 



a homily of St* Athanasius, delivered on that festival; 
yet in his work on ecclesiastical writers, he con- 
demns the very same homily as a forgery, declaring 
the^ evidence against it to he irresistible. But Vossius, 
laying aside the character of a judge, and acting the 
part of a panegyrist, converts his editorial preface into 
a rhapsody, in which he implores the Virgin to make 
him an ample return out of the abundant treasure of 
her grace, in consideration of his having done so much 
for her in the way of encomiums and eulogies. We 
might well have added extracts from his preface to 
the instances which we have given in a former number, 
of the practical working of the system of the worship of 
the Virgin. He dedicates the edition to St. Gregory 
Thaumaturgus and the Virgin Mary jointly, and 
among his variously combined acts of prayer and 
praise, are the following : 

" My mind is astounded, my memory fails, my 
utterance languishes, and my tongue cleaves to my 
jaws, while I strive as a herald to celebrate thy 
praise, O most holy Virgin, mother of God, Mary ! 
and hold before my mind the mirror of thy heroic 
virtues. 

" Here I will make an end ; and I pray and beseech 
thee, O Gregory, together with the most glorious and 
most holy mother of God, Mary the Virgin, that ye 
will at aU times undertake the patronage of me, that 
ye will join your prayers with mine, and never cease 
to intercede for me with the most merciful God, and 
that through you, after this frail, sad, and short life 
ended, I may be deemed worthy to reach the life truly 
blessed and eternal. 

" Hail, Mother, the Heaven, the Virgin, the 
Throne, and of our Church the honour, and glory, 
and strength \ Hail thou, the comfort and ready help 
of those in danger, who have recourse to thee ! Hail, 
refuge of sinners, help of all the good and afflicted, 
the fountain of grace and of all comfort. Hail, 
best mediatrix between God and man ! Hail, sure 



24 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

and unfailing protection of us all ! Hall, only relief 
of the troubles and disturbances of this life ! Hail, 
only hope of the desponding, succour of the oppressed, 
and present help of those who fly to thee ! Hail, gate 
and key of heaven's kingdom, the ladder and the way 
upwards of all the elect ! To thee we cry ; remember 
us, O most holy Mother and Virgin ; remember, I 
say, and in return for these encomiums and 
eulogies give us back great gifts, out of the riches 
of thy so abundant graces." 

It is no longer matter of wonder that V ossius 
should be anxious to make so early a writer as Gre- 
gory Thaumaturgus the author of homilies in honour 
of the Virgin, when we thus find him praying for great 
gifts expressly in return for the abundance of his 
praises of her ; but it is matter of wonder that ; such 
homilies should be now appealed to, as containing 
Gregory's testimony, though they had never been 
published or enumerated among his works, or re- 
ferred to as his, or even heard of, for at least thir- 
teen hundred years ! 



Methodius 3 . 

It is not less matter of wonder to find a work 
formerly attributed to Methodius, a bishop of Tyre, 
in the third century, still quoted as genuine, though 
the best critics, some of them Roman Catholic edi- 
tors, have long ago pronounced the homily now cited 
as evidence of the early invocation of the Virgin, to 
be the production of a much later age. It is indeed 
surprising to see with what eagerness and pertinacity 
the advocates of the worship of the Virgin enlist in 
their service every work which has ever had the name 
of an ancient writer attached to it— not only treatises 
of disputed and doubtful genuineness, but also works, 



3 Methodius, Paris, 1644. 



I 

f 

Methodius. 25 

which for centuries have been denounced by the most 
enlightened writers even of their own Church as de- 
cidedly spurious. We are reminded at every step of 
the confession of the Bourdeaux editor of the Chronicon 
I of Eusebius, that overpowered by the evidence against 
the record contained in it of the Virgin's Assumption, 
he would have expunged it from his edition, were it 
not from his knowledge that nothing certain as to the 
Assumption of the Virgin could be substituted in its 
stead. 

With regard to the homily of Methodius, now quoted 
as genuine, we need only remark that the Benedictine 

I editor of Jerome 4 says, once for all, that the Sympo- 

I sium is the only entire work of Methodius extant; 
that Baronius 5 says expressly, " I do not hesitate to 

j say, that no Greek or Latin writer has left a sermon 
delivered on the Feast of the Purification before 
the fifteenth year of Justinian, on which feast this 
homily, attributed to Methodius, purports to have 

j been delivered;'' and that Lumper 0 shows beyond 
question that this homily is of a much later age 
than Methodius. It is said that the style of this 
sermon closely resembles the style of the Symposium; 
but we all know that in writings, no less than in paint- 
ings, resemblance is often a most fallacious criterion, 
and never must be allowed to counterbalance clear 
and decided evidence against the genuineness of a 
work. Not only, however, does the argument from 
the Feast of the Purification exclude this homily from 
the works of Methodius of Tyre, but the theological 
language also of the homily itself proves it to belong 
to a period much later; for the writer evidently em- 
ploys expressions to guard against the.Arian heresy, 
and seems to make extracts from the Nicene Creed. 
Even were the work genuine, instead of being pal- 



4 Jerom. vol. ii. p. 910. 5 Baronius, Paris, 1607, p. 57. 

6 Lumper, Part xiii. p. 474. 
[661] B 



26 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

pably spurious, its oratorical figures afford almost as 
strong a demonstration of his having believed that the 
city of Jerusalem could hear his salutation, as that the 
Virgin could listen to his prayers ; for he addresses 
the same "Hail" to the Holy City, as he does to 
Mary and Simeon, calling it " The earthly Heaven. 

St. Cyprian, a.d. 258 7 . 

We have already seen how powerfully and affect- 
ingly this celebrated father has written on the subject 
of prayer ; and had he ever addressed himself to the V lr- 
gin, invoking her succour or imploring her interces- 
sion, his line of argument in many of his productions 
■would have led naturally to an expression of his sen- 
timents in that respect. No trace, however, of such 
belief or practice can be discovered in all his various 
works ; nor can we find one word expressive of reve- 
rence towards, her, or referring to her merits, or her 
influence with God ; nor is her name alluded to by 
his correspondent Firmilian, bishop of Cappadocia. 



Lactantius, a.d. 280—317. 

We have seen also, in a former number, how decidedly 
the testimony of Lactantius bears against the doc- 
trine of the adoration of any other being than God, 
and of the intercession of any other mediator than 
Christ. On our present subject, the following is 
among the few passages to which we need make any 

T 6X01*6 11 CG \~ — ' 

« Christ was, therefore, both God and man ; ap- 
pointed as mediator between God and man ; whence 
the Greeks call Him M^'r.jv (Mediator), that he might 
bring man to God, that is, to immortality; because 



7 Paris, 1726. 



St* Cyprian, Lactantius, Eusebias. 27 

had He been only God, He could not have given a 
pattern to man ; if He had been only man, He could 
not have compelled man to justice, had not a power 
and authority greater than man's been added." 

Lactantius speaks of a "Holy Virgin 5 ' chosen for the 
office which she sustained^ but not one word looking to 
adoration. He dwells on the incarnation of the Son of 
God ; and had he or his fellow-believers paid reli- 
gious honour to Mary, it is incredible that he would 
have avoided all allusion to her advocacy and power. 

This brings us beyond the close of the third century. 



Eusebius, a.d. 314. 

The testimony of Eusebius on any subject con- 
nected with primitive faith and practice has been 
always appealed to as an authority not to be lightly 
gainsaid. We have already seen how far removed 
he is from giving any countenance to the invocation 
of saints and angels; and in his works, voluminous 
and diversified as they are in point of subject, we find 
no single passage to justify the belief that the primi- * 
tive Church supplicated the Virgin Mary, either to 
impart to the supplicants any favour, or to pray for 
them. 

Eusebius speaks of the Virgin Mary, but is alto- 
gether silent as to any religious honour of any kind 
being offered to her, and that in passages where he 
could not have omitted all reference to it, had it at all 
really existed. 

In the oration of the Emperor Constantine, as it is 
recorded by Eusebius 8 , direct mention is made of 
" the chaste Virginity," and of " the maid who was 
the mother of God, and yet remained a virgin." But 
the object present to the author's mind was so exclu- 



8 Aug. Taurin. (Triers), 1740, vol. i. p. 624. 
B 2 



28 



On the Worship of the Virgin. 



sively God manifest in the flesh, that he does not 
throughout even mention the name of Mary, much 
less does he allude to any religious honour due or paid 
to her. 

Apostolical Canons and Constitutions. 

These documents, though confessedly not of the 
apostolic age, have been always regarded as in- 
teresting monuments of the primitive Church ; and 
probably we shall not err in fixing their date at a 
period not earlier than the beginning of the fourth 
century. In these we find rules for the conduct 
of public worship, and forms of prayer for private 
use; forms also of creeds and confessions; but not 
one single allusion appears in them throughout to any 
religious address to the Virgin, ox any reference to 
her power, influence, merits, or intercession. Occa- 
sions most opportune for the introduction of such 
doctrine and practice are repeatedly occurring. Again 
and again is prayer directed to be made to the one 
true God, exclusively of any other object of worship, 
and exclusively too through 'the mediation and inter- 
cession of the one only Saviour. 

The Apostolical Constitutions, in which there is re- 
ference made to the mother of our Lord, can scarcely 
be read by any one without leaving a clear and strong 
impression on the mind, that no religious worship was 
paid to the Virgin Mary when they were written ; and 
certainly not more of honour than is now cheerfully paid 
to her by members of the Church of England. If, for 
example, we take the prayer prescribed to be used on 
the appointment of a deaconess, the inference irom 
it must be, that others, with whom the Spirit of the 
Lord had dwelt, were held in equal honour with 
Mary. "O eternal God, Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, maker of male and female, who didst fill 
with thy Spirit Miriam, and Hannah, and Huldah, 
and didst not disdain that thy Son should be born of a 



1 



Apostolical Canons and Constitutions. 29 

woman, &c. 9 " In another passage the Virgin is spoken 
\ of just as other women who had the gift of prophecy; 
and of her equally and jointly with the others, it is 
said that they were not elated by the gift. " But 
| even have women prophesied in ancient times, 
Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses; after her, 
Deborah ; and afterwards, Huldah and Judith ; and 
the mother of the Lord also prophesied, and Eliza- 
beth, her kinswoman, and Anna; and in our days the 
daughters of Philip; yet they were not lifted up 
i against the men, but observed their own measure. 
! Therefore, among you, should any man or woman 
j have such a grace, let them be humble, that God may 
take pleasure in them V 

In the Apostolical Canons we find no allusion to the 
j Virgin Mary. The last clause of all contains the bene- 
! diction ; and gives us an example of a primitive prayer 
offered to God alone, through Christ alone, without 
any reference to the intercession and advocacy, or 
i merits and glory of his mother. "Now may God, the 
only unproduced Being, the Creator of all things, 
unite you all by peace in the Holy Ghost, make you 
perfect unto every good work, not to be turned 
aside, unblameable, not deserving reproof; and may 
He deem you worthy of eternal life with us, by the 
mediation of his beloved Son Jesus Christ, our God 
and Saviour, with whom be glory to Him, the Sove- 
reign God and Father in the Holy Ghost the Com- 
forter, now and ever, world without end. Amen." 

St. Athanasius, a.d. 350. 

We have already seen what strong and decisive 
testimony is borne by this renowned defender of 
the Christian faith against any invocation of saints 
and angels. In what broad contrast does his un- 

9 Book viii. c. 20. i Book viii. c. 2. 

B 3 



30 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

qualified and unlimited declaration, that no Chris- 
tian could ask a blessing from God and any 
created being, stand with a prayer, said to have 
been approved by Pope Pius VI. : " Jesus, Joseph, 
and Mary, I offer you my heart and my soul. Jesus, 
Joseph, and Mary, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, 
Joseph, and Mary, may my soul expire in peace with 
you I" Such things are now in the Church of Rome, 
but in the primitive and Catholic Church they were 
not so. 

St. Athanasius, ever bent on establishing the perfect 
divinity and humanity of Christ, thus speaks : " The 
general scope of Holy Scripture is to make a general 
announcement concerning the Saviour, that He was 
always God, and is a Son, being the Word, and the 
brightness and wisdom of the Father; and that He 
afterwards became man for us, taking flesh of the 
Virgin Mary, who bare God." 

On a careful examination of the works of St, 
Athanasius, not one single passage can be discovered 
indicative of any worship of the Virgin, or any belief 
in her power and intercession, or any invocation of 
her, even for her prayers. 

Before we leave the testimony of Athanasius, we 
have a duty to perform which the cause of truth com- 
pels us not to neglect. We are anxious in these trea- 
tises to avoid whatever might be so construed as to 
savour of a personal charge ; but we must here lay 
open before the world an instance of those many 
unworthy expedients by which the worship of the 
Virgin Mary is attempted to be upheld in our own 
country, in our own times, and by persons whose 
authority seems to have assumed a high place in the 
Roman Church. 

A homily, formerly ascribed to St. Athanasius, but 
which has been for centuries rejected as spurious and 
apocryphal, continues to be quoted, even at the present 
day, as his genuine testimony, without the slightest 



St. Athanasius. 31 

intimation of any doubt as to its author. Bellarmin so 
appealed to it in his day; and had he been the only 
writer, or the last writer, who had so cited it, we might 
merely have referred to the judgment of the Benedictine 
editors, who have, since Bellarmin's time, classed this 
homily among those spurious works which had been 
without reason attributed to Athanasius 2 : Or rather 
we might have referred the whole matter to Bellarmin 
himself; for jt is no less true than extraordinary, that 
whereas in his anxiety to enlist every ancient writer 
in the cause of the invocation of saints and the wor- 
ship of the Virgin, Bellarmin has cited this homily in 
his Church Triumphant, as containing the words of 
Athanasius, without alluding to its spuriousness, or 
even to any doubt attached to it: yet in his. review 
of Ecclesiastical writers 3 , when pronouncing judg- 
ment^ on the different works assigned to Athanasius, 
he himself condemns this same homily as a palpable 
forgery, declaring the evidence against it to be irresis- 
tible. But in our own times, Dr. Wiseman, Roman 
bishop of Melipotamus, thus introduces and com- 
ments upon a passage, or rather different sentences 
made into one passage, drawn from the same homily 4 : 
" St. Athanasius, the most zealous and strenuous 
supporter that the Church ever possessed of the di- 
vinity of Jesus Christ, and consequently of his infinite 
superiority over all the saints, thus enthusiastically 
addresses his ever-blessed mother : { Hear now, O 
daughter of David, incline thine ear to our prayers ; 
we raise our cry to thee. Remember us, O most holy 
Virgin, and for the feeble eulogiums we give thee, 
grant us great gifts from the treasures of thy graces, 
thou that art full of grace. Hail ! Mary, full of grace, 
the Lord is with thee. Queen, and Mother of God, 
intercede for us.' Mark well these words, 6 grant us 

2 Vol. ii.p. 390. 401. 

3 Bellarmin, de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, Cologne, 1617, vol. vii. 
p. 50. 

i Dr. Wiseman's Lectures, vol. ii. p. 108. London : Booker, 1836. 



32 On the Worsh ip of the Virgin. 

great gifts from the treasures of thy graces,' as if he 
hoped directly to receive them from her. Do Catho- 
lics use stronger words than these ; or did Athanasius 
think or speak with us or with Protestants 5 ?" 

To these questions the direct answer is, that neither 
these words, nor the homily from which they are ex- 
tracted, ever came from the pen of Athanasms ; and 
moreover, that the proofs of the spuriousness of the 
homily are drawn out at large by the Benedictine 
editors, in the very edition and the identical volume of 
the works of Athanasius, to which Dr. Wiseman refers 
for his authority when he quotes the passage as genuine. 

The above quotation (made up of different sen- 
tences, selected from different clauses, and put together 
so as to make one paragraph) is found in a bomily 
called "On the Annunciation of the Mother of God. 
Two centuries and a half ago, and repeatedly since, 
(how long before we know not,) it has been con- 
demned as totally and indisputably spurious ; and has 
been excluded from the works of Athanasius as a 
wretched forgery, not by members only of the Re- 
formed Church/ but by most zealous adherents to the 
Church of Rome. 

The Benedictine editors, who published the remains 
of Athanasius in 1698, declared this homily to be a 
forgery, assigning their own reasons for their deci- 
sions, and fortifying their own verdict by quoting at 
length the letter written upon the subject more than 
a century before by the celebrated Baronius to our 
countryman Stapleton. Both these documents are 
very interesting, and compel us at every turn to 
renew our astonishment that such a homily should be 
so quoted in the present day without any allusion to 
its spurious character. 

The principal arguments urged by the Benedictines, 
and by Baronius before them, will be found in "The 
Romish Worship of the Virgin," p. 168 ; we can only 
make two or three extracts. 

5 Dr. Wiseman's note refers us to • Serm. in Annunc. t. ii. p. 401." 



I 

I 

St. Athanasius. 33 

The Benedictine editors thus begin their preface : — 
I "That this discourse is spurious, there is no learned 

MAN WHO DOES NOT NOW ADJUDGE. The Style 

proves itself, more clear than the sun, to be different 
i from the style of Athanasius. Besides this, very 
| many trifles show themselves here, unworthy of any 
sensible man, not to say of Athanasius ; and a multi- 
tude of expressions unknown to Athanasius, so that it 
savours of lower Greek. . . After stating facts which 
entirely exclude the homily from the age of Athana- 
j sius, they add, "But we would here subjoin the dis- 
sertation of Baronius on the subject sent to us by our 
! brethren from Rome." 

That dissertation is contained in a letter, dated 
Rome, Nov. 1592, to Stapleton, in consequence of 
some animadversions and remonstrances of his, con- 
veyed through Cardinal Allen, against Baronius, for 
having deprived the Church of such a testimony. 
Baronius says, the little he had before written was 
! quite enough to show that the homily was spurious, 
and he is sure that all persons of learning, who 
were desirous of the truth, would freely agree 
with him. He adds, moreover, that many had ex- 
ressed their agreement with him ; congratulating 
im on having separated legitimate from spurious 
children. He conceives that the homily could not 
have been written till after the heresy of the Mono- 
thelites had been spread abroad ; and this would fix 
its date subsequently to the commencement of the 
seventh century, 300 years after Athanasius had 
attended the Council of Nice. 

Among the last words of Baronius in this letter, we 
read a sentiment worthy of a sincere Christian and an 
honest and enlightened critic, the neglect of which leads 
to such proceedings as we are now lamenting; and the 
uniform adoption of which, on all sides, would bring 
controversy within narrower limits, and convert it from 
| angry warfare into a friendly comparison of opinions. 
" I do not consider that these sentiments concerning 

1 

If - 

Jfc^ ... 



34 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

Athanasius are affirmed with any injury to the Church: 
the Church suffers no loss on this account ; who, being 
the pillar and ground of the truth, very far shrinks 
from seeking, like iEsop's jackdaw, helps and orna- 
ments which are not her own; the bare truth shines 
more beautiful in its own naked simplicity." 

And yet, notwithstanding this utter repudiation of 
the whole homily as a work falsely attributed to Atha- 
nasius ; after its unqualified condemnation by Cardi- 
nal Bellarmin ; after the Benedictine editors, in the 
very volume to which the reference is made, have 
declared that there was no learned man who did not 
adjudge it to be spurious, the gross forgery being self- 
condemned by evidence clearer than the sun; after 
Baronius, the great Roman authority, has assured us 

that ALL LEARNED MEN DESIROUS OF THE TRUTH 

would agree with him in rejecting it as spurious-— 
after all this, it is quoted at the present day in evi- 
dence as the genuine work of St. Athanasius, the quota- 
tion being closed by this triumphant question, " Did 
Athanasius think and speak with us, or with Protes- 
tants?" 



THE END. 



Gilbert & Riyington, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 



WHAT 



IS ROMANISM? 

No. XIII. 



ON THE 

WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN MARY. 

EVIDENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 
AGAINST IT. — Continued. 




LONDON : 

Printed for the 

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, 
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE } 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 

[662] 1846. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts form part of a series intended to be 
issued, on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published:— 
I. On the Supremacy of the Pope. 

ft. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

W On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

DENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AGAINST IT. 

V On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the New Testament against it. 

VI On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

" DENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AGAINST IT. 

VII On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.-Evi- 

' DENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH AGAINST IT— 

[continued]. 

VIII On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.— 

Doctrine and Authorized Services of the 
Church of Rome. 
IX. On the Worship of the Virgin.-Practical Work- 

ing of the System. 
X On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.-Evidence 

of Holy Scripture against it. 
XI On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 
XII. On the Worship of the Virgin.-Evidence of the 

Early Church against it. 
YTTT Ok the Worship of the Virgin Mary.-Evidence 
XHL ° of the Primitive Church against it-[co^W]. 
XIV On the Worship of the Virgin.-Evidence of the 
Primitive Church against iT-lcontmued}. 
XV On the Romish Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence 
XV * of thi Primitive Church against ^conUnued]. 
YVT On the Romish Worship of the Virgin.-Evidence 
XVI. 0 Y/ T E H rP R iMiTivE Church against i*-[concluded\ 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.— Evidence of the 
Primitive Church against {(.—From the Council of 
Nice, a.d. 825, to the end of the fourth century. 

St Cyril of Jerusalem y a.d. 340 \ 

The link in the chain of primitive writers which con« 
nects the testimonies qf those who flourished before 
or at the time of the Nicene Council, with those who 
followed it, is Cyril, archbishop of Jerusalem. This 
celebrated and revered patriarch was probably born 
about ten years before that Council, and was ordained 
Deacon by Macarius, and Priest by Maximus, who 
were his immediate predecessors in the episcopate of 
Jerusalem, and both of whom are thought to have 
attended at Nice. 

The principal work of Cyril, which has also been 
generally ranked among the most interesting remains 
of antiquity, consists of eighteen catechetical lectures 
delivered to candidates for baptism through the weeks 
before Easter, and five addressed after that festival to 
those who had been then admitted into the Church. 
These lectures take so wide and so general a view of 
all the doctrines of Christianity, that we can scarcely 

1 Oxford, 1703. Paris, 1728. Venice, 1763. 
A 2 



4 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

find a single point of theology altogether omitted. 
Cyril professes to instruct the catechumens in every 
branch of divine knowledge ; and if prayers and sup- 
plications to the Virgin had then found a place among 
the devotions of the faithful, we cannot conceive that 
no mention whatever would have been made of such a 
duty or practice, nor any expression have fallen from 
him which could be supposed to allude to it. Such, 
however, is the fact ; and that too, not only when his 
subject might appear to lead his thoughts into another 
channel, but when his line of argument would natu- 
rally suggest a reference to the religious honours paid 
to the Virgin. Rather we would say, the total omission 
of her name affords in various instances conclusive 
evidence, that the belief and practice of the Roman 
Church in the present day had no place in the Chris- 
tian Church in the days of Cyril. 

Let us take as an example the present confession 
and the present prayers in the Romish mass, both 
before and after the consecration of the host, and 
compare them with the record given of corresponding 
addresses in the time of Cyril. " The confession begins 
thus: "I confess to God Almighty, to the blessed 
•Mary ever Virgin, to the blessed Michael the Arch- 
angel, to the blessed John the Baptist, to the holy 
Apostles Peter and Paul," &c. Again, in the prayer 
before consecration we now find these sentiments — 
" Communicating with, and venerating the memory of, 
in the first place, the glorious ever- Virgin Mary, Mo- 
ther of our God and Lord Jesus Christ ; and likewise 
of the blessed Apostles and Martyrs," &c. And in the 
prayer after consecration, this supplication is offered — 
"Deliver us, O Lord, we beseech thee, from all evils, 
present, past, and to come ; and by the intercession 
of the blessed and glorious ever- Virgin Mary, Mother 
of God, with thy blessed Apostles," &c. 

Rut Cyril, describing the order in the celebration 
of the holy Eucharist observed in his day, though he 
tells us that they made mention of archangels, Apostles, 



Cyril of Jerusalem. 5 

and martyrs, yet makes no allusion whatever to the 
Virgin Mary 2 : 

" After this, (after the priest has said, < Let us give 
thanks to the Lord,' and the people have responded, 
'It is meet and right,') we make mention of the 
heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the stars, and 
all the creation, rational and irrational, visible and 
invisible, angels, archangels, &c, virtually employing 
the ^ expression of David, 'Magnify the Lord with 
me.' Then we make mention also of those who 
I have fallen asleep before us, first patriarchs, prophets, 
Apostles, martyrs, that by their prayers and inter- 
j cessions God would receive our supplications V 

If the Church of Christ taught then as the Church 
of Rome now teaches, that the Virgin Mary was 
1 " exalted, above the choir of angels, unto the kingdom 
of heaven, to the ethereal chamber in which theJCing 
of kings sits on his starry throne," could Cyril of 
Jerusalem, when detailing* with such minuteness the 
1 various particulars of the service which he daily wit- 
nessed, have omitted all mention of her name ? 

In this interesting compendium of Christian doc- 
trine, Cyril dwells with much fulness of argument 
and illustration on the divine generation of Christ by 
the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. With evident 
anxiety, he exposes the baneful heresy of those who 
held that our Lord was not born of a Virgin, but was 
the son of Joseph and Mary. In the course of his 
argument, proving Christ to be « God of the substance 
of his Father begotten before the worlds, and man 
of the substance of his mother born in the world," 
many occasions offer themselves, not only admitting 
but calling for a statement of the doctrine of the 
Church, had the Church of Christ then held the pre- 
sent doctrine of the Church of Rome; and yet not 

2 Cat. Myst. v. 5, 6. 
j 3 It has been maintained that the words in italics are an interpola- 
I tion of a much later age. If this be so, our argument only becomes 
stronger. 

A 3 



6 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

one word occurs throughout as to her nature, or cha- 
racter, or as to her advocacy with God, or any invoca- 
tion of her for her intercession or patronage. < Cyril 
speaks of her as the "pure and holy \irgm, he 
speaks of Christ as « God born of the Virgin. He 
apples to her as ante-Nicene Fathers did, the word 
theotocos, "she who gave birth to him who was God. 
But we find no allusion to her birth, or her death, or 
her state after death. Not a syllable occurs which 
Avould lead us to suppose that the Christian Catechist 
of Jerusalem, in the middle of the fourth century, 
thought of the Virgin Mary, or acted towards her 
otherwise than true members of the Church of Eng. 
land now think and act. In all his arguments and 
statements he exalts God alone, and speaks of the 
blessed Mary only as we speak of her, as a pure and 
holy virgin, the instrument in God's providence ot 
effecting the miraculous birth of Him who made all 
things. The evidence of Cyril is irrefutable against 
the prevalence of any religious worship offered to her 
in his day. The following passage we are induced to 
quote, because it expresses simply but powerfully a 
principle of prime importance to us all : 

"The Father, through the Son, with the Holy 
Ghost, dispenses every grace. The ^ gifts of the 
Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, are not 
different each from the other. For one is the salva- 
tion, one the power, one the faith. One God, the 
Father; one Lord, his only begotten Son ; one the 
Holy Ghost, the Comforter. And to know this is all 
we need. But do not busy yourself about his nature 
and substance ; for had it been written^ we would 
have told you of it.. On what is not written let us 
not venture. It is abundantly sufficient for us to 
know for our salvation, that there is Father, Son, ana 
Holy Ghost 4 ." 



* See Cat. xvi. 12. 



St. Hilary. 7 

St. Hilary, Bishop of Poictiers, a.d. 350 5 . 

While Cyril, archbishop of Jerusalem, enables us to 
infer that in the east the Church of Christ was in his 
time free from the worship of the Virgin Mary, his con- 
temporary, Hilary, establishes the same fact as to the 
west. Hilary is said to have been born at Poictiers, 
of which city he became bishop about the year 350, 
or 355. Having presided over that see with che- 
quered fortune, but with untarnished character, for 
about twelve years, proving himself to be one of the 
brightest ornaments of the Gallican Church, he was 
called from his persecutions and his honours here to 
that rest which remaineth for the people of God. 

The chief works of Hilary now 7 extant, are his 
Commentaries on the Psalms, and on the Gospel of 
St. Matthew, and his book on the Holy Trinity. 

In his interpretation of the Psalms, his general 
principle of representing the Psalmist as speaking in 
the person of the Saviour, or of his faithful disciples, 
and giving to each Psalm a Christian application, leads 
him to speak continually of the Saviour's incarnation; 
and thus an occasion would have frequently offered 
itself for Hilary to express his sentiments as to the 
station and nature of the Virgin Mary, had any such 
views as Roman Catholics now entertain been fami- 
liar to his mind. On the contrary, he never refers to 
any especial honour paid to her by himself or his 
fellow Christians. She is not alluded to as exercising 
any patronage, or having any power or influence in 
heaven or on earth, or as having been already received 
into glory. 

Hilary, together with the great body of the earliest 
Christian writers, is clear in the statement of his belief, 
that the angels are messengers between heaven and 
earth, bearing the prayers of the faithful to God's 

6 Ed. Paris, 1693. Verona, 1730. 
A 4 



8 On (he Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

throne, and conveying blessings down to those who 
love Him. He speaks with honour and gratitude 
of the Apostles, Evangelists, Martyrs, and Patriarchs, 
as objects of our pious contemplation ; though he 
explicitly warns us, that our help can come from God 
only, and that the Saviour Himself is the only ground 
of our hope. But of the Virgin Mary (except in one 
passage, in which he tells us that even she herself, 
though the mother of our Lord, must yet undergo 
the general judgment,) he speaks only as Mary, or 
the Virgin; and that, not with any reference to 
her exalted station and character, nor (excepting in 
as much as she was a pure virgin) to any honour due 
to her; but solely with reference to her having been 
the mother of Christ. Indeed, how very far he was 
from entertaining those sentiments towards her which 
are cherished by the Church of Rome, we have a strik- 
ing evidence (among many others) in his manner of 
adverting, on two occasions, to the announcement of 
our Saviour's name by the angel to Joseph. "Now, 
our word Saviour is, in the Hebrew, Jesus. And 
this the angel confirms, when speaking of Mary to 
Joseph : ' She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt 
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from 
their sins V " Repeating this same sentiment in 
another Psalm, Hilary employs the same words, ex- 
cept that he omits all mention of the Virgin. 

In his comment 7 on St. Matthew, this father ani- 
madverts on the misrepresentations of irreligious men, 
who took occasion from the words of Scripture to 
form an unworthy estimate of the Virgin's character; 
and he maintains that she had no children by Joseph 
after our Saviour's birth, a point which we, with his 
pious contemporary Basil, whose testimony we must 
soon examine, may well leave as Scripture has left it. 

The passage* however, to which we have already 
adverted, and in which he speaks of the necessity 



6 P*. Ixvi. ver. p. 210, and Ps. li. p> 03. 



7 Matt. i. p. 602. 



St. Hilary. 9 

under which the Virgin Mary, though the mother of 
our Lord, lay, not less than others, of undergoing 
the final judgment, requires the especial consideration 
of all who would defend the present Roman doctrine 
by the evidence of the writers of the primitive Church. 
In laying this passage side by side with the sentiments 
elsewhere expressed by Hilary, as to the persons who 
will be judged, we express no opinion as to the sound- 
ness of his doctrine, or the accuracy of his quotations, 
or on his interpretation of Scripture. If his views 
approve themselves as correct, that will add nothing 
to the strength of our^argument ; if otherwise, that 
will not detract at all ttom its force ; the simple ques- 
tion being, What is Hilary's evidence on the worship 
and invocation of the Virgin Mary ? We find that he 
never speaks of her as an object of religious reverence ; 
and we now ask, Had Hilary entertained towards 
her such sentiments as we find at this day expressed 
in the authorized services of the Roman Church, could 
he have written such passages as the following ?— 
" 6 He who believeth in me is not judged, but pass- 
eth from death unto life; but he who believeth not 
is already judged.' Since then the saint is not to 
be judged, who is to pass from death unto life, and 
the unbeliever is already adjudged to punishment; it 
is understood that judgment is left for those who, 
according to the nature of their deeds between sins 
and faith, are to be judged 8 ." 

" The Prophet remembered that it was a hard thing 
and most perilous, for human nature to desire God's 
judgment; for since no man living is clean in his 
sight, how can his judgment be desirable ? Since we 
must render an account of every idle word, shall we 
desire the judgment day, in which we must undergo 
that incessant fire, and those severe punishments of 
a soul to be cleansed from sin ? A sword shall pass 
through the soul of the blessed Mary, that the 



s Ps. Ivii. p. 143. 
A 5 



10 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. If that 
Virgin w ho conceived God is to come into the seventy 
of judgment, who will dare to be judged by God t 

Some passages ascribed to Hilary are constantly 
appealed to in vindication of the worship of the Vir- 
gin, in which the author contrasts the evil brought 
into the world by Eve with the blessing of which the 
Virgin Mary was the channel. But how unsound is 
that argument, is clearly evinced by the fo owing, 
among other passages, in which he does not allude to 
the Virgin at all, though he is contrasting the original 
source of sin and misery derived from a woman, with 
the restoration of fallen man % Christ made known 
bv a kind of retribution first to women. 

« But in as much as some poor women {muliercula) 
see our Lord first, salute Him, fall down at his knees, 
are commanded to bear the tidings to the Apostle, 
the order of the original curse is reversed; so that 
as death came by that sex, so to it the glory and sight, 
and fruit, and tidings of the resurrection should first 

^iTwoVd be an easy and a pleasing task, did not 
our present object preclude us from entering ; upon it, 
to quote passages truly interesting and edifying to 
Christians, which would put in a clear and strong light 
the spiritual character of the religion of Hilary. At 
one time he exposes, in awakening language, the 
dangers which beset us on every side. He describes 
the perils to which every department of nature gives 
birth, and against which the Christian must be ever 
on his guard : the very gems of unknown seas, and 
gold dug from the bowels of the earth, tempting us to 
lovetousness; the troubles of life, the unholy desires 
of our fellow- creatures, the example and_ influence 
of those in high places soliciting us to sin, with a 
seductiveness too powerful for our frail nature to with- 
stand. Then he bids us look to God, Almighty and 

Ps. cxviii. p. 294. } St. Matt. chap, xxviii. p. 810. 



Macarius. 



11 



Omnipresent, assuring us that He will never forsake 
the man who trusts in Him, but will give him strength 
against every enemy to his salvation, and bring him 
safe to Himself at last. At another time he invites 
us to look to the angels and prophets, who are em- 
ployed by their ; heavenly Master in forwarding our 
salvation by their ministry, admonishing us, in con- 
templation of their offices of obedience and love, to 
lift our hearts heavenward ; but ever looking beyond 
them to Him alone, from whom every good and per- 
fect gift comes down on sinful and redeemed man 2 . 
To confess God as our help 3 , and to know that God 
| for our sakeis became man, St. Hilary declares to be a 
true confession, a never-failing hope. His description 
of the Christian's day, as it was passed by him and his 
fellow-disciples, must close our present reference to 
his highly valuable remains : 

The day is open'd with prayers to God ; 
The day is closed with hymns to God K 



Macarius 9 a.d. 350* 

Macarius, of Egypt, flourished about the middle of 
the fourth century. Fifty of his discourses have 
come down to our day. In these he speaks much of 
the virgin pureness with which the soul and body of 
a Christian must be dedicated to God ; but though 
there was ample room, and frequent opportunities 
might have offered themselves for referring to the 
Virgin Mary (which more recent writers, in their 
anxiety to exalt her, seldom neglect), yet he never 
refers to her once, except as the mother of whom 
Christ took his human nature; telling us that the 
body which Christ took of Mary he lifted upon the 
cross 5 . 

3 Ps. cxxi. and cxxii. p. 444. 
5 Paris, 1C22. Horn. xi. p. 61. 
A 6 



2 Ps. cxx. p. 379. 
4 Ps. lxiv. 



12 0?i the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

He never calls the Virgin Mary the " Spouse of 
God ;" but he represents the human soul created m the 
imao-e of God, and after the fall purified by the Holy 
Spint, and prepared for the heavenly visitor, as that 
spouse 6 . 

This author speaks beautifully of prayer and praise, 
but God is the only object of them. In him we look 
in vain for a distinction of supreme worship for God, 
and next to that a worship for the Virgin. And espe- 
cially in his 20th Homily, his sentiments are so utterly 
inconsistent with the modern doctrine of a Christian's 
lookino- to the Virgin for his remedy, the enlightening 
and guiding of his mind, his salvation from sin, and 
safety in death ; and they are in themselves so full of 
the t'ruths of the Gospel, in its primitive simplicity, 
bidding us to approach God alone in Christ, and to 
place our hope and trust in no other guide, physician, 
restorer, advocate, or patron, that no one, we are per- 
suaded, can read them without satisfaction and benefit. 
In the works of Macarius, there is no suggestion of 
another Giver to whom we should look than God ; no 
Virgin to whom or through whom we should apply 
for Divine mercies; no Mediator, except our Lord 
only ; with him, God in Christ is all in all. 

St. Epiphanius, a.d. 370 7 . 

Epiphanius was bishop of Salamis, in the island of 
CyDrus, a few years after the middle of the fourth 
century. Among his genuine productions, the most 
important is his work on the heresies which had then 
already risen to distract the peace of the Church. 

In ascertaining his testimony on the invocation ot 
the Virgin Mary, our attention will of necessity be 
chiefly directed to his discussion of the heresies rela- 
tive to herself; indeed, few passages besides call tor 
anv notice. The panegyric on "The Mother ot 



c Horn, xlvii. p. 233. 



' Paris, 1622. 



St. Epiphanius. 



13 



|| God," bound up with his works, is confessedly of a 
much later date 8 . 

With many others, Epiphanius regarded those 

i Christians as heretical who held that the Virgin lived 

I with Joseph as his wife, after she had given birth to 
our Lord ; and he always speaks of her with reverence, 
because of the mystery of the incarnation, which she was 
the chosen human instrument of effecting. Through- 
out, his anxiety seems to be to give her the honour due 

1 to her office and character; he speaks with indignation 

j of those who could entertain disparaging views of her 

| unsullied purity and holiness; and he had no doubt 
of her future perfect bliss, both body and soul, in the 

j eternal kingdom of her Son. But of her " immaculate 
conception," " her assumption, body and soul, into 
heaven," her " exaltation to glory above the highest 
angels," her "omnipotent intercession with the Al- 
mighty," the Church's " prayers to God for the bless- 
ings of her mediation," of her being the channel 

I " through which every blessing must flow that comes 
from heaven to man," of the faithful "suppliantly 
invoking her, and flying to her prayers, help, and 
assistance;" of all these points, Epiphanius seems to 
have known nothing. On the contrary, his testimony 
is conclusive against the existence of any such doc- 
trines prevailing in the Church as a body, or among 
Christians individually, in his time. 

The following is an extract from his arguments 
against Marcion 9 , in which Epiphanius thus expresses 

i his assurance of the Virgin Mary's freedom from actual 

; sin, and of her final salvation : — 

" < Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of 
God.' He accuses not all flesh ; for how could that 
flesh be accused which never committed any of the 
above-mentioned acts ? But I will prove the point 
by other arguments, i Who, he says, shall lay any 

8 See Fabricius, vol. viii. p. 275, and Ondin, vol. ii. p. 318. 
; 9 P. 352. 



14 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

thing to the charge of God's elect?' How will the 
holy Mary, with her flesh, not inherit the kingdom of 
God, who was never guilty of fornication, or unclean- 
liness, or adultery, or any of those irremediable works 
of the flesh?" ■ . •• . 

In his dissertations on those heresies, which related 
to the nature, character, and office of the Virgin, he 
confesses that he had great difficulty in ascertaining 
the precise views of misbelievers; and that some 
opinions reported to him were so monstrous in ab- 
surdity and impiety, that he could scarcely bring 
himself to believe what he had read. He then men- 
tions three distinct opinions or practices, which he 
calls heresies \ 

First, of those who denied the perfect incarnation 
of Christ ; some of whom maintained that he brought 
his body down with Him from heaven 1 ! m 

Secondly, of those who held that after Christ s 
birth, Mary lived with Joseph as his wife 2 - 

Thirdly, of those who, on certain days, religiously 
offered cakes to her and worshipped her 3 . 

In his dissertations on these opinions and practices, 
he quotes in full the letter 4 which he had written 
to his fathers, brothers, and children in Christ, who 
had been troubled by these doctrines. With regard 
to the Virgin, he indignantly asks, how could any 
one dare to speak disparagingly of her, who was se- 
lected out of so manv thousands to be the mother ot 
our Lord? and while he urges that those who honour 
God will honour his saints, he declares that as to 
her death and burial he will affirm nothing 5 , because 
Scripture is so silent on the point, as not even to tell 
whether St. John took her with him in his journeys to 
those countries through which he preached the Gospel. 

On the first heresy, Epiphanius observes, « lhe 
body of the Saviour, born of Mary according to the 
Scripture, was a human and a true body. It was 

1 P. 995. 2 P. 1033. 3 P. 1057. * P. 1034. 5 P. 1043. 



Si. Epiphanius, 



a true body, since it was the same with our own ; for 
Mary is our sister, since we all came from Adam 6 ." 
He afterwards proceeds thus, " Just as the perverse 
views of some heretics denying the Godhead of the 
Saviour, and severing Him from the Father, drove 
others to the opposite error, and provoked them to 
say that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
were one and the same person ; so the unworthy 
doctrines reflecting on the Virgin, drove some to 
the opposite extreme, and provoked them to pay her 
j divine worship ; making her a deity, offering cakes 
in her name, and striving to honour her beyond due 
measure." 

Having then referred to former instances of the 
tendency of mankind to superstition ever restless, 

i and fond of novelty (such as was the worship paid 
to the daughters both of Pharaoh and Jephtha), he im- 
mediately adds these truly striking expressions : 
" Whether the holy Virgin be dead and buried, in 

! that case her death is in honour, her end in purity, 
and her crown in virginhood ; or whether she was 
slain (as it is written, a sword shall pierce through her 
soul also,) her glory is among martyrs, and the holy 
body of her, by whom light rose on the world, is in 
the midst of blessings ; or whether she remained (for 
it is not impossible for God to do whatsoever he 
wishes, FOR HER END IS NOT KNOWN), 
we must not honour the saints beyond due measure, 
but honour their Lord. Let, then, the error of those 
deceived people cease. For neither is Mary a deity, 
nor deriving her body from heaven, but from the 
intercourse of a man and a woman ; determined, as 
Isaac's was, by promise. And let no one make offer- 
ings to her name, for he destroys his own soul ; nor, 
on the other hand, let him be so intoxicated as to in- 
sult the holy Virgin." 

In all these dissertations, Epiphanius alludes to no 

j 

6 P. 1003. 



16 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

especial honour due to the Virgin above other saints ; 
but as he began his letter to the Arabian Christians, 
by charging men to bring no calumnies against the 
Virgin (for if they honoured God they would honour 
his saints), so he ends the letter with these senti- 
ments: 

" The saints are in honour; their rest is in glory; 
their departure hence is in perfectness; their lot is 
blessedness ; their society is with the angels in holy 
mansions ; their dwelling is in heaven ; their conver- 
sation is in divine writings ; their glory is in honour 
beyond calculation and continuous ; their rewards are 
in Christ Jesus our Lord, through whom, and with 
whom, be glory to the Father, with the Holy Ghost, 
for ever V 

His dissertation on the Collyridian heresy (so 
called from the small cakes offered to the Virgin) 
he prefaces by stating that opposite extremes are 
both bad, and the mischief is equal in both these 
errors ; on the one hand, of those who make light of 
the holy Virgin, and on the other, of those who 
extol her beyond due measure, He then tells us, that 
this heresy took its rise entirely from women, who 
were in the habit of forming a quadrangular seat, 
spreading a napkin, putting bread upon it, and offer- 
ing it to Mary's name ; and he prays God to enable 
him to cut up this heresy by the roots. 

He begins by showing, that through the Old Tes- 
tament we never find women exercising the priestly 
office; and under the New, if women were to be 
allowed to exercise it, or be engaged in any of the 
canonical ordinances of the Church, it would rather 
have become Mary herself, the mother of our Lord, 
to discharge that office. But that was not allowed; 
nor was even baptism committed to her. Hav- 
ing, then, described the tendency of men's minds, 



7 p. 1056. 



St. Epiphanius. 17 

at the suggestion of the devil, to pay mortals divine 
honours, departing from their allegiance to the one only 
| pod, and worshipping dead men, and their lifeless 
images, Epiphanius thus anticipates and answers the 
I objections of those, who favoured these errors: 
' " Nay, but the body of Mary is holy ! Yes, but 
| not a deity. Nay, but the Virgin is a virgin and 
I honoured! Yes, yet not given for us to worship, 
but herself worshipping Him who was born of her in 
the flesh. Thus the Gospel confirms us, saying, in 
| the words of our Lord, « Woman, what have I to do 
with thee?' lest any should think that the holy Virgin 

Ij Was a BEING OF SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE, He Calls 

j her < woman, 9 as if He prophesied on account of those 
j divisions and heresies which were to take place on 
earth, — in order that no one by admiring the 
holy Virgin in excess, might fell into this folly 
of heresy. The whole story is full of absurdity. 
For what Scripture speaks of it? Which of the Pro- 
, phets ever suffered a man to be worshipped, not to 
I say a woman? She is a chosen vessel, but she is a 
woman, and not at all changed in nature ; though as 
to her mind and sense she is held in honour ; as the 
bodies of the saints, or whatever else in point of 
honour I might mention as more excellent; as Elijah, 
a virgin from his birth, and continuing so throughout, 
and being taken up did not see death ; as John, who 
lay upon the bosom of our Lord, whom Jesus loved ; 
as the holy Thecla ; and as Mary honoured above 
I her because of the dispensation of which she was 
j deemed worthy. But neither is Elijah, though among 
the living, an object of worship ; nor is John an ob- 
ject of worship, though by his own prayer, or rather, 
by God's grace, he made his death wonderful ; nor is 
Thecla, nor any one of the saints, an object of wor- 
I ship. For the old error shall not lord it over us, that 
| we should leave the living One, and worship things 
I made by Him. For they served, and worshipped the 
creature more than the Creator. For if He willeth 



18 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

not that the angels be worshipped, how much more 
is He unwilling that worship should be paid 
to her who was born of Anna, and was given to 
Anna from Joachim, given to the father and mother 
by promise, but, nevertheless, not born differently 
from the nature of man." 

Had Epiphanius been accustomed to celebrate the 
Virgin Mary, as the authorized services of the Church 
of Rome celebrate her now, as immaculate m her 
mother's conception of her, glorifying her as 
exalted above the choir of angels, as queen ot 
angels, and queen of all saints, could he have written 
such a sentence as this, in which he argues, that Cod, 
who would not suffer the angels to be worshipped, 
would much less have allowed a Virgin to be wor- 
shipped, who was a mortal like ourselves^ " and not 
born out of the ordinary course of nature." 
Epiphanius afterwards proceeds thus :— 
"God the Word, as a Creator, having authority 
over it, formed Himself from the Virgin, as from 
the earth, having clothed Himself with flesh irom 
the holy Virgin ; but nevertheless not a virgin to 
be worshipped, nor that He might make her a 
deitv; not that we might offer in her name ; not that 
after so many generations women should become 
priestesses. God willed not this to take place in 
Salome, nor in Mary herself. He suffered her not 
to administer baptism, nor to bless the disciples; Me 
did not commission her to rule on earth : but only 
appointed this-that she should be a holy thing, and 
be deemed worthy of his kingdom. Whence then is 
the coiling serpent? Whence are his crooked coun- 
sels renewed? Let Mary be in honour; but let the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be worshipped. Let 
no one worship Mary. The mystery [that sacred 
thing, religious worship] is assigned— I do not say to 
no woman ; but not even to any man— it is assigned 
to God. Neither do angels receive that ascription ot 
glory. Let these errors, written in the hearts of the 



St. Epiphanius. 



19 



deceived, be wiped away. Let the evil, generated at 
the tree, be obliterated from our sight. ... Let 
no one eat of the error which has arisen by means 
of holy Mary ; for though the tree be beautiful, yet it 

| is not given for food ; and though Mary be most beauti- 
ful, and holy, and honoured, yet she is not intended 
to be worshipped. Let Eve, our mother, be ho- 
noured, as having been formed by God ; but let her 

\ not be listened to, lest she persuade her children to 

! eat of the tree and transgress the commandment. 

i And how many more things might be said ? for these 

! silly women offer to her the cake, or they take upon 
themselves to offer it in her behalf. The whole 
thing is foolish and strange, and is a device and 
deceit of the devil. But not to extend my discourse 

i further, what I have already said will suffice — Let 
Mary be in honour: let the Lord be worshipped 8 ." 

Few probably will conceive it possible that any 
primitive writer, maintaining the present doctrines of 

i the Church of Rome, or knowing those to be the 
doctrines held and acted upon by his contemporaries 
through the Christian world, could have written the 
sentiments here quoted. It is not the case of merely 
negative testimony ; it is not only the absence of any 
intimation as to the writer's belief in the lawfulness 
and duty of seeking the Virgin's protection by invok- 
ing her aid, or as to his knowledge of such invocation 
being practised around him. It is the case of a 
Christian Bishop reprobating a practice which had 
then lately sprung up in some distant portion of 
Christendom, of worshipping the Virgin — and who 
does this without making any exception of invoking 
her aid, or of asking her to intercede. He does not 
remonstrate with those innovators for departing from 
any established mode of addressing her ; or for not 
being content with that worship of her, which they 

! 8 P. 1064. 



20 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary, 

found already prevalent : and yet this is surely what 
he would have done, had any mode of worshipping 
her then been prevalent in the Christian Church. He 
speaks peremptorily, and universally without excep- 
tion, or reserve ; and he repeats the same naked 
command again and again— "Let no one worship 
Mary." 

It has been said by writers of the Church of Rome 
that Epiphanius does not reprove his misguided con- 
temporaries for offering prayers to the Virgin ; but 
for offering her cakes as a sort of sacrifice ; and con- 
sequently that his reproof does not reach the point 
at issue/ unless the Roman Church offers the sacri- 
fice of the Mass in honour of her. But this is no 
answer. It is impossible to conceive that had Epi- 
phanius been aware that prayers were offered to the 
Virgin, and the mercy of God sought through her 
intercession in the Christian Churches, he would in 
so unqualified a manner have denounced all worship 
of the Virgin. He says not, " Do not offer sacrifice 
to Mary," but " Let no man worship Mary." The 
offering of a sacrifice was among the heathen, and 
under the law of Moses one part of religious wor- 
ship; but so was the offering of prayer and praise 
equally a part; and Epiphanius taking occasion from 
the one part more immediately brought under his 
notice, condemns alike all worship of Mary without 
any limitation or exception. This is in itself evident: 
but the case becomes still more clear, and the argu- 
ment is strongly confirnfed by a brief reflection on 
the original Greek words used by Epiphanius. 

The verbs employed by him in these passages, 
"Let no one worship Mary," "Let the Lord be 
worshipped 1 ," are precisely the same which St. John 
employs in the Revelation, when referring to a 
worship in which sacrifice could have no part, " I 



1 Tt)v Macidfx fjutfdg npocrKWeiro). 'O Kvpiog TrpoaKvvzicQu. 



St. Epiphanius. 



21 



fell down to worship before the feet of the angel. 
And he saith unto me, See thou do it not ; worship 
God 2 ." It is moreover a fact worthy of notice, that 
while Epiphanius himself, in his own genuine works, 
says, " Let no one worship Mary," and " The angels 
do not receive this honour," the writer of the spuri- 
ous work ascribed to him, which we have already 
mentioned, uses the selfsame Greek word when he 
represents the angels as worshipping the Virgin. 
We may also observe, that in the spurious work to 
which we must hereafter refer, ascribed to Ephraim 
Syrus, and quoted in the present day as his in justi- 
fication of the Roman errors, the same word is used 
to^ the very letter, when the writer addresses the 
Virgin in the language of adoration, "We bless thee, 
O Bride of God, and with fear we worship thee 3 ." 
The fact is, had Epiphanius sought for the most 
general and comprehensive word for the express pur- 
pose of excluding the Virgin Mary from any kind of 
religious worship whatever— the falling down before 
her, praying to her, invoking her succour, singing 
hymns to her honour — he could probably not have 
selected any word more comprehensive than the word 
he has employed. 

But Epiphanius says, " Let Mary be had in ho- 
nour." To which every true son of the Church of 
England will respond, Amen. We discard as fully 
as Epiphanius could do, all unworthy and disparaging 
sentiments towards the holy Virgin-Mother of our 
Lord. But in disowning those who speak irrever- 
ently of her, we are careful (as Epiphanius enjoins us 
to be) not to be driven to the opposite extreme, nor 
to honour her above the measure due to her. We 
honour her memory, and we honour all the holy 
saints of God. Epiphanius bids us honour Mary; 
but so he bids us, using the same word, honour Eve, 



2 Ewegov 7rpo<JKVV7i(Tai. T<£ Bey irpoGKvvrjvov. 

3 YlpO(JKVVOVfXi.V. 



22 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

the mother of us all. We honour the Virgin, but we 
cannot worship her. - " 

It is too obvious to require more than a tew words, 
and yet it may be safe to observe, that Epiphanius 
must have entertained on various points besides the 
invocation of Mary, notions very different from those 
which are professed by members of the Church ot 
Rome now, and countenanced by the Roman Ritual. 

Epiphanius could not have held the immaculate 
conception of the Virgin in her mother's womb (to 
celebrate which the Roman Church has instituted a 
festival), or he could not have asserted, as he has 
asserted again and again, that " her birth was in the 
ordinary course of nature "— " not in any way dif- 
ferent from other mortals." 

Epiphanius could have known nothing ot the 
ASSUMPTION of the Virgin, now celebrated as 
the chief and crown of the festivals in the Church 
of Rome; or he would not have told us that since 
Scripture was silent on the subject of her death, he 
would not express his opinion whether she died the 
common death of men, or suffered^ martyrdom, or 
was allowed to remain alive on earth 4 . 

Of her merits as influencing our spiritual condi- 
tion ; of her intercession; of her present interest (as 
our advocate) with God: of any prayers, even tor 
aid by her prayers, being offered by the Church, 
or by the faithful in private-of all this Epiphanius 
says not a word. From first to last his evidence is 
all pointedly and irrefutably against the invocation 
of the Virgin Mary. Epiphanius testifies that the 
present worship of the blessed Virgin in the Church 
of Rome had neither place nor name among primi- 
tive Christian worshippers. 



± p. 1043. 



St. Basil. 



23 



I Basil; Gregory of Nazianzum ; Ephraim, the Syrian ; 
Gregory of Nyssa. 

\ Our attention is next called to the testimony of four 
I contemporaries, who, although perhaps not personally 
j known each to the other three, yet were united toge- 
ther some indeed, by the ties of blood or of friend- 
j ship, and all by the bond of faith, hope, and cha- 
j rity. Basil was the brother of Gregory of Nyssa, 
the companion and friend of Gregory of Nazianzum, 
and the spiritual father in Christ, by the imposi- 
tion of whose hands Ephraim the Syrian is said 
to have received the holy order of Deacon. The 
j testimony of each of these must be examined sepa- 
rately; and though we cannot regard them all as of 
equal magnitude and brightness, yet will each star of 
this constellation be found to throw much light on our 
path, while the combined light of them all united 
seems to bring the object of our inquiry clearly and 
distinctly before our mind, and to leave no room at 
all for doubt (so far as our present investigation is 
concerned) with regard to the* state of religious wor- 
ship at the close of the fourth century. 

St. Basil, a.d. 370 5 , 

This Christian father and bishop, who acquired the 
name of the Great, in distinction from the multi- 
| tude of bishops and pastors of the same name who 
succeeded him, is often appealed to under the 
honoured title of the Great Teacher of Truth. He 
was born at Csesarea, probably about a.d. 328, and 
was there ordained deacon and priest : but in conse- 
quence of an unhappy misunderstanding between him 
and the bishop of that city, he withdrew, at the age 
of thirty, into the deserts of Pontus, where he passed 
his time chiefly in religious solitude, which however 

5 Paris, 1721 and 1839. 

I 



On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

was relieved by the friendly converse of Gregory of 
Nazianzum. Happily, Basil was reconciled to the 
Bishop of Csesarea, on whose death, about a.d. 370, 
he succeeded to that see. There he was permitted to 
feed the flock of Christ for about nine or ten years, 
and then he died in peace. . 

Although the negative evidence of Basil against 
the existence in the Christian Church, at his time, of 
any thing approaching the religious worship of the 
Virgin, is interwoven with all his remains, yet not 
more than two or three passages call for any especial 
examination. Basil, with all true and sound believers, 
held (to use the words of the Church of England) 
that " the Son, the Word of the Father, begotten from 
everlasting of the Father, the very and eternal God, 
of one substance with the Father, took man's nature 
in the womb of the blessed Virgin of her substance f 
that He " was born of a pure virgin." And thus, m 
his comments on the record of the Creation fl , re- 
futing those who urged the impossibility of a virgin 
being a mother, he affirms that the Creator had pro- 
vided, by the operations of nature, unnumbered pre- 
paratory acts for the reception of the mystery of the 
Incarnation. The accuracy of Basil, on subjects of 
natural history, does not affect our inquiry. In that 
passage, he maintains that, in the economy of Grace, 
the Son of God was born of Mary, a virgin ^ but of 
her he says no more. 

But the evidence of Basil is far from being merely 
negative. Different passages bear testimony to the 
fact, that he did not entertain towards the Virgin any 
such sentiments as are now professed by the Church 
of Rome; that he offered her no worship (let it be 
called dulia or hyperdulia) ; that 7 he regarded her as 

6 Hex. Horn. viii. s 6. Ed. 1721, vol. i. p. 76. Ed. 1839, p.. 107- 

7 We shall find many of the ancient Fathers putting forth similar 
sentiments with regard to the Virgin, which, as they appear to have 
no foundation in Scripture, we may well leave as we find them. The 
citation of them in evidence of a primitive writer's sentiments implies 
no approval or admission of them as our own. 



St. Basil. 25 

one whose faith was tried and w r as shaken, and who 
needed the renewal of the Holy Ghost, after her trust 
I in God's providence had for a while been interrupted ; 

in a word, that he neither looked to her as an inter- 
j cessor and mediator, nor believed in her Assumption ; 
I nor placed any hope in her good offices in heaven, to 
i be secured on the part of mankind, by prayer addressed 
either to herself or to God. 

Optimus, a bishop, had laid before Basil some of 
| his difficulties in the interpretation of Scripture. 

Among other matters, he requested his assistance 
! towards the right understanding of the address made 
| by Simeon to Mary, on Christ's presentation in the 
j| Temple. Basil, complying with his request, recom- 
j mends him to interpret the words " And he shall be 
for a sign that shall be spoken against," as prophetic 
of those lamentable disputes which had arisen con- 
cerning Christ's incarnation ; " some maintaining that 
he had an earthly body, others that it was a heavenly 
body; some that it pre-existed from all eternity, others 
| that it had its origin from Mary." And then, in ex- 
planation of the expression, "A sword shall pass 
through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of 
many hearts shall be revealed," he thus proceeds : — 

" The sword is the word that trieth, that judge th the 
thoughts, and separateth to the dividing asunder of 
the soul and spirit, the joints and marrow 8 . As there- 
fore every soul was subject to some doubt at the time 
of the Passion (according to the voice of the Lord, 
6 All shall be offended because of me,') Simeon pro- 
phesied concerning Mary also herself, that standing 
by the cross and seeing what was being done, and 
hearing those words, notwithstanding the testimony 
I of Gabriel, notwithstanding the ineffable knowledge 
of the Divine conception, notwithstanding the great 
display of miracles ; yet after all, saith he, there shall 
arise a certain wavering even in thy own soul. For 

8 Vol. iii. Epist. 260, p. 400. Ed. 1839, vol. iii. p. 579. 
! [662] B 



l 



26 On the Worsh ip of the Virgin Mary. 

it behoved the Lord to taste death for every man, and 
by making a propitiation for the world, to save all 
men by his blood; consequently even thee also thy- 
self, who hast been instructed from above in the things 
of the Lord, some doubt shall affect. This is the 

sword." . . . , 

Basil then proceeds to explain the remaining clause 
in Simeon's address, thus—" ' That the thoughts of 
many hearts might be revealed.' He intimates, that 
after the offence taken at the cross of Christ, botn by 
the disciples and Mary, some remedy should speedily 
come from the Lord, confirming their hearts in their 
ftatfa on Him. Thus we know that Peter, after hav- 
ing been offended, held the faith of Christ more sted- 
fastly. The weakness and frailty of human nature 
were proved, in order that the power of God might 
be shown." . , 

It is impossible to believe that one who entertained 
these sentiments could, at the same time, have held 
the doctrines concerning the Virgin Mary which the 
Church of Rome teaches her members to hold. We do 
not wonder at the expression used by the Benedictine 
Editor, both in a marginal note and in the index, 
« This of Basil is not quite a fair opinion concerning 
the holy mother of God." « Basil, not very deco- 
rously (minus belle), thinks that Mary herself wavered 
at the time of the Passion." Whence Basil derived 
his view, or how far his is the true interpretation ot 
the passage, has nothing to do with the object of our 
present inquiry. Basil is here proved to have held 
sentiments altogether incompatible with the present 
belief and practice of the Roman Church concerning 
the Virgin Mary. . 

Like the works of almost every ancient writer, 
the volumes which contain the genuine productions 
of Basil, remind us of the recklessness with which the 
errors of subsequent ages were ascribed to the primi- 
tive teachers of our holy faith. 

But when we bear in mind that not less than lorty, 



St Basil, 



' probably move, of the same name with Basil, though 
of very inferior note, followed him, we can scarcely 

j wonder at so many spurious works being- ascribed to 
him. By such forgeries the authority of these early 

j Fathers has been too long forced to countenance the 
errors which crept into the faith and worship of the 

j Church, long after those holy men had fallen asleep 

j in Christ; errors as much opposed to their genuine 
sentiments, as they are to the doctrine of the Church 
of England now. By no labours, perhaps, can the 

j learning and ability of the lovers of truth, and the 
faithful sons of the Church of Christ, promote the 

| cause of primitive worship more effectually than by 

j clearing the field of Christian antiquity of those 
noxious weeds, which the enemy of truth has from 
age to age sown so artfully, choking in many cases 
the genuine and good seed, in others mingling some 
subtle poison with the wholesome fruits of Gospel 
truth. Much has been already done ; but we shall 

I be more and more convinced, as our inquiry pro- 
ceeds, that much more yet remains to be done. 

Before we leave this venerable teacher in Christ's 
school, it may be well for us to recall some few of 
Basil's genuine sentiments on the efficacy and com- 
fort of prayer, the duty and blessing of habitually 
studying the holy Scriptures, and the consolations 
administered by real Christianity to those who are 
in sorrow and affliction. Several passages bear, 
though indirectly yet convincingly, on the immediate 
subject of our inquiry; the absence throughout of 

j all allusion to the Virgin Mary (whose protection at 
the awful hour of death and from the face of their 
enemy, the Roman Church now bids her children to 
supplicate) being most striking and satisfactory. 

It is refreshing to hear this holy man in his retire- 
ment speaking, like a voice from the wilderness, of 
the inestimable value of holy Scripture as the guide 

| of our life, supplying us with rules of conduct, and 

, proposing the bright example of good men, as living 

b 2 

i 



28 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

models for a child of God to imitate. No less de- 
lightful is it to hear him speak of prayer. " Prayer, 
he says, " should ever attend our study of holy Scrip- 
ture : our mind is more vigorous then, more reno- 
vated with the strength of youth, and is under a 
stronger influence of the love of God.'; The best 
praye°r he considers to be that which brings the idea 
of God more vividly before the mind; to have God 
ever present in our thoughts and hearts, realizes the 
indwelling of God in us. « Thus we become a temple 
of God, when the tenor of our thoughts, and our 
remembrance of Him are not cut asunder by earthly 
cares, nor the mind disturbed by passions unawares 
assailing us. Flying from all these, the man who 
loves God withdraws himself to God, banishing 
aH evil desires which would tempt him to what is 
unholy, and persevering in those pursuits which 
lead to excellence 9 ." . 

His letter of condolence to Nectanus on the 
death of that friend's only son is most beautiful m 
itself, and opens to us Basil's views as to the foun- 
tain and living spring of all consolation to a Chris- 
tian. Having expressed his own deep affliction, 
caused by the melancholy loss sustained by his friend, 
he recalls Nectarius to a consideration _ ot the 
tenure of human life, and the many _ instances 
which they had known of similar calamities. He 

th< « Above all, it is God's command, that because of 
the hope of the resurrection we sorrow not for those 
that have fallen asleep. Moreover with the great 
Judge of our struggles crowns of great glory are 
reserved as the rewards of great patience. Where- 
fore I call on vou, as a generous combatant, not to 
sink beneath the weight of your sorrows, nor suffer 
your soul to be swallowed up by it: persuadea of 

« Epist. ii. vol. iii. pp. 72, 73. Ed. 1839, vol. iii. p. 99. 
a« Epist. v. p. 77- Ed. 1839, p. 108. 



! 

St. Basil. 29 

I this, that though the reasons of God's dispensations 
| are hidden from us, yet whatever is apportioned to us 
by Him, who is wise and who loveth us, should be 
borne, however painful it may be. For He knows 
| how to assign what is for the real good of each ; and 
why He appoints to different persons unequal periods 
of life. Though not comprehended by man, there is a 
cause why some are taken away sooner hence, and others 
i are left to linger on in this life of pain. So that in all 
I things we should adore his loving-kindness, and with- 
i out repining remember the famous exclamation which 
j the great combatant Job uttered, when he saw his ten 
I children round one table in one moment destroyed. 
I 4 The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. 

As it pleased the Lord, so it was ! ' Let us make that 
j admirable sentiment our own. By the just Judge an 
equal reward is reserved for those who acquit them- 
selves equally. We have not been deprived of our 
boy ; we have only returned him to Him who lent 
I him. His life is not extinct, but is changed for the 
better. The earth does not cover our beloved one, 
but heaven hath received him. Let us only wait a 
little while, and we shall again be with him whose 
loss we feel. The time of our separation will not be 
long. In this life we are all hastening on the road 
to the same inn ; in which one is already lodged, 
another is coming in after him, a third hastening : 
one end will receive us all. He has finished his 
journey first; but we are all on the same journey; 
and the same inn awaits us all. Only may we resem- 
ble him in purity, that we may obtain the same rest 
with the children of Christ." 

At the close of the next letter, which is also con- 
solatory, St. Basil says, — 

" In these cases, argument is not enough for con- 
solation. We have need also of prayer. I pray 
the Lord Himself that He, touching your heart by 
his ineffable power, will by good thoughts enkindle 

b 3 



30 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

light in your soul, that you may have the well-spring 
of comfort in your own home 1 ." 

St. Gregory of Nazianzum, a.d. 380 2 . 

Gregory, called "Theologus," from his profound 
erudition in divine knowledge, and " of Nazianzum," 
from a city in Cappadocia, was the friend of Basil, 
and tutor of Jerome 3 . He was trained^ we are told, 
in the most celebrated schools of rhetoric, at Athens 
and Alexandria as well as in other cities. For some 
years he superintended the Church of Nazianzum as 
the coadjutor or suffragan of his father, who was at 
that time by age and infirmities disabled from dis- 
charging the episcopal functions. He was afterwards 
called to preside over the metropolitan Church of 
Constantinople, from which he retired by a voluntary 
resignation of that see ; and having passed the ten 
remaining years of his life in retirement, he died 
about the year 391, at the age of probably not less 
than ninety years. m 

This Gregory is referred to by the Roman Catholic 
historian of the Council of Trent 4 , as one of those 
who " by addressing saints in public harangues laid 
the foundation of the modern practice of praying to 
them, though such addresses ought to be ^ regarded as 
figures of rhetoric rather than religious invocations." 
Gregory's works contain many panegyrics delivered 
on the anniversaries, or at the tombs of celebrated 
Christians (some of them his contemporaries), at the 
close of which he apostrophizes the martyr, apolo- 
gizing for his own defects, begging him to accept his 
exertions however unworthy of the merits he has 
been celebrating, and to look favourably on the com- 

1 P. 79. Ed. 1839, p. 112. . , oo _ 

2 Paris, vol.i 1778 ; vol. ii. 1840. 3 See Fabncius, vol.ix. p. 383. 
i Histoire du Concile de Trent, 1751. 



St. Gregory of Nazianzum. 31 

pany assembled in honour of him. But in the same 
harangues we find him apostrophizing things which 
never had ears to hear, or a mind to understand — 
It is difficult to believe how any one seeking, not 
what by ingenuity might be forced to countenance a 
system, but what is in reality evidence of the faith 
and practice of the first Christians, could acquiesce 
wdth satisfaction in such apostrophes. 

If weighed in the balance of truth, these apostro- 
phes carry with them no greater proof that the Chris- 
tian orator invoked the saint in an act of religious 
worship, than the words of Tacitus, in apostrophizing 
Agricola, bear that he sought the aid of his departed 
friend. There, is, however, this important difference^ 
that Gregory entertained no doubts as to the immor- 
tality of the soul ; whereas the words of the Roman 
historian imply that with him the existence of a future 
state was still an unsettled question. In more recent 
instances, also, we find misgivings and doubts as to the 
power of the departed to hear their surviving friends 
when addressing them. Such for example is the apos- 
trophe made by Frederic II., King of Prussia, in his 
panegyric of Prince Henry. And after doubts of this 
sort once expressed, few probably would see any proof 
of the belief or practice of the heathen biographer or 
the modern king, were they to make many other similar 
apostrophes without the expression of such doubt. 

But precisely the same expression of uncertainty 
and doubt and misgiving occurs (and that not once 
only) in these addresses of Gregory of Nazianzum. 
It may put the illustration in a clearer light, if we lay 
the instances we have mentioned side by side with 
Gregory's. There is a remarkable correspondence in 
many of the circumstances of the three cases : Tacitus 
addresses his wife's father as a beloved parent ; Fre- 
deric addresses his nephew ; Gregory addresses his 
own sister — 



b 4 



32 



On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 



TACITUS. FREDERIC. 

Agricola ! If there Prince ! You who 
be a place for the knew how dear you 
spirits of the pious, were to me— how pre- 
if, as philosophers cious was your person 
think, great souls pe- to me : if the voice of 
xish not with their the living can make 
bodies, rest thou in itself heard by the 
peace: and call thou dead, listen to a voice 
us thy family, from which was not un- 
weak * repinings and known to you. Suffer 
feminine wailings to a this frail monument, 
contemplation of thy the only one, alas I 
virtues, which it is not that I can erect to your 
lawful for us to mourn memory to be raised 
or wail for ; rather let to you 5 . 
us adorn thee with our 
admiration, with tem- 
poral honours, and if 
nature so permit, by 
resembling thee. 

The whole of this passage of Gregory's address 
deserves a place here. It is full of Christian faith and 
love. It is observable that in his reference to the joys 
of heaven which he believed that his sister already 
possessed, though he mentions the glory of angels 
and of other beings and of God, yet there is no 
allusion to the Virgin Mary. 

" Better, I well know, and far more to be prized, 
are the things thou hast now, than what are seen here ; 
the sound of those who keep holyday, the choir of 
angels, the vision both of other beings, and also of 
the Trinity most high; the more pure and perfect 
illumination of glory no longer withdrawing itself from 
a mind in bondage, and dissipated by the passions, 
but entirely contemplated, and held by the whole mind, 
and shining upon our souls with the full light of the 
Godhead — all these mayest thou enjoy, of which, &c." 

Another striking instance of the same doubt and 
uncertainty, not as to the happiness of true Christians 
in another world, but as to their power to hear the 
addresses made to them by any here below, occurs in 
Gregory's first invective against Julian 7 . Having 

5 For both these references, see Taciti Op. Brotier, vol. iv. p. 131. 

6 Greg. Naz. vol. i. p. 232. 7 Vol. i. p. 78. 



GREGORY. 

Mayest thou enjoy 
all these, of which 
when on earth thou 
receivedst a few drop- 
pings from thy genuine 
disposition towards 
them. But if thou 
cansitake any interest 
in our affairs, and this 
boon is granted by God 
to pious souls, to have 
a sense of such things, 
receive our address 
instead of many fune- 
ral obsequies, and in 
preference to many 6 . 



St Gregory of Nazianzum. 33 

called all upon earth to hear him, he adds, " Hear, O 
heaven, and give hear, O earth. And do thou hear, O 
soul of the great Constantius, if there be any per- 
ception, and all ye souls of the kings before him 
who loved Christ : " the note in the Benedictine edi- 
tion thus interpreting and illustrating these words 
of Gregory: — 66 If the dead are sensible of any thing. 
Thus Isocrates, in the same words but somewhat more 
fully : € If there is any perception of what is going 
on here.' " 

After the expression of these doubts, we do not 
see how any sound argument can be based upon such 
addresses to the souls of the departed made by Gre- 
gory. But; to confine ourselves more particularly to 
the immediate subject of our inquiry, we do not find 
any evidence borne by Gregory to the invocation of 
the Virgin ; on the contrary, in his genuine works, he 
is a clear and strong witness against it. 

Here, however, a painful duty is forced on any one 
who is resolved to make a sacrifice of any thing 
rather than of the truth : — Gregory of Nazianzum is 
in the present day confidently cited as one who 
himself prayed directly and unequivocally to the 
Virgin Mary. The appeal is thus made to his au- 
thority by Dr. N. Wiseman, Roman Catholic Bishop 
of Melipotamus 8 : — 

" But I must not omit another passage of the same 
Father, neither will I venture to abridge it. It is 
the conclusion of his dramatic composition entitled, 
< Christ Suffering.' Whatever may be put to the ac- 
count of poetical feeling and expression, enough will 
remain to satisfy us of his belief. But after all, there 
is poetry in all sincere prayer; every office of Catho- 
lic devotion, public or private, is essentially poetical : 
and if it was lawful for St. Gregory to address the 
blessed Virgin as follows under any circumstances, 
it cannot be idolatrous in us. 6 Moreover kindly ad- 

8 Remarks on a Letter from the Rev. W. Palmer, by N. Wiseman, 
D.D., Bishop of Melipotamus. London, 1841, p. 28. 

B 5 



34 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 



mit thy Mother, O Word, as an intercessor, and those 
to whom thou hast granted the grace to loose. Au- 
gust, venerable, all-blessed Virgin ! Thou inhabitest 
the heavenly mansions of the blessed, freed from the 
incumbrance of mortality, clad in the garment of 
incorruption, known ever-immortal as a Deity. 
Be kind from above to my addresses. Yea, yea, 
most glorious maiden, receive my words ; for this 
distinction belongs to thee alone of mortals, as the 
mother of the Word, although beyond comprehen- 
sion ! On which relying, I address thee, and to 
adorn thee bear a garland woven from the purest 
meads, O Lady ; for that many favours thou vouch- 
safing hast ever freed me from various calamities of 
enemies visible, but more invisible. When I shall 
reach the end of my life, as I have entreated, may I 
ever have thee as protector of the riches of my entire 
life; and as a most acceptable intercessor with thy 
Son, together with his well-pleasing servants. Allow 
me not to be delivered up to torments, and to be the 
sport of the cruel despoiler of men. Stand by me 
and save me from the fire and darkness, by the faith 
which justifieth, and by thy favour; for in thee was 
seen the grace of God to us. Therefore, I weave for 
thee a grateful hymn, Virgin Mother, fair and supreme 
above all other virgins, sublime above all heavenly 
orders of beings ! Mistress ! Queen of all things ! 
Delight of our race ! be thou ever kind to it, and to 
me in every place salvation.' 

" Here," observes Dr. Wiseman, " is the blessed 
Virgin directly prayed to, considered a protector, a 
defender against enemies. In short, in this one ad- 
dress, St. Gregory sums up all that is contained in 
the passage considered by Mr. Palmer so objection- 
able in the mouths of modern Catholics." 

To this alleged testimony of the great Theologian, 
only one answer can be given ; but of the certainty of 
that answer we can entertain no question. Gregory 
of Nazianzum never wrote one of those words. The 



St. Gregory of Nazianzum. 35 

tragedy after the manner of Euripides was not written 
J by Gregory, nor in his age. The greatest difficulty 
I in the case is, how to account for such a citation being 
made in the present day, without any allusion to the 
authorities, by which the work is pronounced not to be 
I Gregory's. Had members of the reformed Church 
alone, or recently, rejected that work, (however strong 
and sound their reasons might have seemed to us,) we 
| should not have been surprised at oar Roman Catholic 
contemporaries still quoting this tragedy as Gregory's; 
• but here we need cite no other evidence than the 
] united testimonies of a large body of the best Roman 
I Catholic critics 9 , to prove that the work is unquestion- 
ably spurious ; or rather we need only refer to the 
i Roman Catholic editor, M. Caillau, Paris, 1840, who 
) establishes its spuriousness beyond controversy. 

Another passage has been frequently quoted, in 
proof that Gregory of Nazianzum recognized prayer 
to the Virgin as an ordinary practice, a century before 
his time. The passage occurs in an oration, said to have 
| been delivered by this Gregory in praise of Cyprian, 
Bishop of Carthage. The testimony has been highly 
valued; and with the view of retaining it among Gre- 
gory's works, great pains have been taken to reconcile 
the confusion and inconsistencies which abound 
throughout the work in which it is found. Indeed, 
the Benedictine editors confess " that no where in the 
fourth century is the protection and assistance of the 
blessed Virgin so clearly and so explicitly commended 
as in this oration 1 ." To state the reasons which 

9 In pronouncing that the passage now quoted as genuine by Df. 
Wiseman, is falsely assigned to Gregory, these agree with one voice : 
Tillemont, Dupin, Baillet Jugement des Savants, Baronius, Rivet, 
Vossius, Bellarmin, Labbe, Ceillier. Fabricius has been lately quoted 
as acknowledging the genuineness of the work ; but incorrectly. 
He only rejects the notion, of its having been written by Apollinaris: 
and in the same page he tells us, that Lipsius and Vossius doubted, 
and that Triller and Valcken undertook to demonstrate that it was 
spurious. See Greg. Theoiog. Paris, 1840. Edit. M. Caillau, Priest. 
. See also Romish Worship of the Virgin, p. 375. 
' Vol. i. p. 437. 

b6 

■I . 

i • 
i ' 



36 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

compel us to regard the oration as altogether spurious, 
and the work of a writer far inferior to Gregory of 
Nazianzum in ecclesiastical knowledge, we trust will 
not be thought uninteresting or out of place. 

But if, for argument's sake, the oration were ad- 
mitted as genuine, its evidence amounts to very little; 
and could not counterbalance the weight of evidence 
to be put in the other scale. Still, whoever was the 
author, the story detailed is this : A young lady of 
great beauty was in imminent danger, in consequence 
of the violent emotions which her charms had excited 
in Cyprian, who, to bring her into his toils, and se- 
cure her to himself, had recourse to the arts of magic, 
in which he was versed, and to the assistance of one 
of those evil spirits whom magicians bribed by acts of 
homage. " Justina, (to use the speaker's own words,) 

DISCARDING ALL OTHERS, FLIES FOR REFUGE TO 

God, who had protected Susanna and Thecla, and 
she takes her own bridegroom for her champion 
against hateful lusts. And who was this ? : Christ, 
who rebukes the winds, and supports the sinking, and 
consigns a legion of devils to the deep, and rescues 
from the den the just man exposed as food for lions, 
and by the outstretching of his arms conquers the 
wild beasts, and rescues the fugitive prophet swallowed 
up by the whale, even in its belly preserving his faith, 
and saves the Assyrian youths in the fire, quenching 
the flame by his angel, and adding a fourth to the 
three. Meditating on these and more instances than 
these, (and beseeching the Virgin Mary to assist a virgin 
in peril,) she throws before her the charm of fasting 
and mortification, at the same time marring her 
beauty as treacherous, that she might withdraw the 
fuel of the flame, and expend the heat of passion, and 
also making God propitious by her faith and her 
humility; for God is served by nothing so much as 
by affliction ; and loving-kindness is given in return 
for tears." 

Now, if this statement really came from Gregory 



St Gregory of Nazianzum. 37 

of Nazianzum, to what does it amount ? It shows that 
he reported without a word of approbation or dissatis* 

I faction, the circumstance of a female being in peril 
having, a century before his time, called upon the 
Virgin to protect her from the wanton attacks of one 

I who was then a child of Satan, exercising for her ruin 
his arts as a magician, but whom she converted to 
Christianity, and who afterwards became Bishop of 
Carthage, and a martyred saint. The sentence is 
parenthetical, and no reference is made to the Virgin 
in what precedes or follows it ; on the contrary, the 

! orator expressly states, that Justina, forsaking all other, 

| betook herself only to God. Still were the oration 
genuine, this parenthesis must be allowed to carry 

! that degree of evidence as to the general practice of 
the preceding century, which each inquirer after truth 

j may consider it to bear. The arguments, however, 
against its being admitted as the genuine production 
of Gregory the Theologist, seem to us conclusive and 
unanswerable. 

In examining this homily with the view of forming 
a correct judgment as to its genuineness, (its historical 
accuracy or authenticity is not attempted to be esta- 
blished by any one,) we must throughout have present 
to our mind the character of the author to whom it is 
ascribed. Gregory was one of the most learned bishops 
of the Church ; one who, by his extraordinary know- 
ledge of divine things, obtained the surname of the 
Theologian. He had studied in other famous seats of 
learning, and especially at Alexandria and Athens ; 
and at both those places, if any where in the world, 
at that time, the biography of St. Cyprian of 
Carthage would be a subject of interest, and would 
be familiarly known and imparted. Could Gre- 
gory then be the author of a homily filled with so 
many gross mistakes and inconsistencies, and so in- 
explicable a confusion of facts and persons? The 
alternative is of no slight importance ; and the ques- 

! tion deserves a patient and full examination. If the 

i genuineness of the oration be maintained, then this 

i 



38 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

great teacher and theologist is convicted of such gross 
mistakes as are not only inconsistent with the range of 
his learning and knowledge, but would disgrace any 
ordinary person, who had the opportunities with which 
he was favoured; and if the glaring inconsistencies 
and ignorance pervading the homily compel us to 
pronounce against its genuineness, then this testi- 
mony to the early prevalence of invocations to the 
Virgin Mary (which, slight as it is, is acknowledged to 
be the clearest and most explicit which the fourth cen- 
tury can produce,) must be given up as a thing of nought. 

1st. Then, nothing is known as to the time, or 
place, or occasion of the delivery of this oration. 
The notice of Nicetas, in the Paris edition of 1611, 
states that it was spoken to the people of Nazian- 
zum, the day after the festival of St. Cyprian, 
on the orator's return from the warm baths, at the 
foot of the precipitous mountain near the town, which 
he frequented, partly for the comfort of retirement, 
and partly for the cure of an infirmity under which 
he laboured. But this idea is rejected by the Roman 
Catholic editors in the Paris edition of 1778, because 
the orator addresses his audience as persons with 
whom he had been only a short time acquainted; and 
they maintain that the oration must have been de- 
livered at Constantinople, a.t>. 379. 

2ndly. The Cyprian, in praise of whom the orator, 
whoever he was, delivered this panegyric, and of 
whose licentiousness and vice, and magical arts, and 
violence towards Justina he was speaking, was Saint 
Cyprian, the renowned Bishop of Carthage ; whereas 
all the editors and critics with one voice pronounce 
such a stigma upon his character to be a calumny 
which must not, for a moment, be attached to that 
holy man's name. Thus it is that Dr. Wiseman 
speaks of " the machinations of the magician Cyprian, 
without making any allusion to the Saint of Carthage, 
whose memory we hold in reverence. But, whoever 
was the orator, that the subject of his panegyric 
was St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, admits of no 



St Gregory of Nazianzum. 



39 



doubt, and ought not thus to be disguised. The 
words of the orator, variously, and again and again 
repeated, fix the identity of the individual beyond 
question. Thus in one passage he says, 66 This Cy- 
prian, my friends, (that those of you who know it 
may be more pleased with the remembrance, and those 
who know it not, may learn the fairest of all our 
histories, and the common glory of Christians,) is that 
man, the great name formerly of the Carthaginians, 
but now of the whole world." " He not only presided 
over the Church of the Carthaginians, or of Africa, (from 
him and on account of him celebrated to the present 
day,) but also the whole west, and almost the very 
east, and the south, and the north, wherever fame 
reached. Thus Cyprian became ours." 

Baronius 2 , the great Roman Catholic authority, 
affirms that all this was a mistake in the orator ; that the 
anecdote must have related to another Cyprian ; and 
that as for St. Cyprian of Carthage, the story charg- 
ing him with having used magical arts is an ex- 
ploded FABLE. 

Can we conceive Gregory the Theologian, the 
most learned man of his time, who had himself studied 
in Alexandria and Athens, to have fallen into such gross 
errors, and to have been the propagator of such a 
fable, when we know that the history of St. Cyprian's 
martyrdom (which we have at the present day) written 
by Pontius, his own deacon, was then spread through 
Christendom ? 

3rdly. The orator, in a manner 3 , totally at variance 
with what Gregory's works inform us of his own senti- 
ments, states, that 66 the very ashes of Cyprian, if used 
in faith, dislodged devils, expelled diseases, foretold 
things to come ; as they know who have made the 
trial, and have delivered the account down to us, and 
will deliver it for times to come !" 

2 Baronius, Martyr. 26 Sept. p. 376, Paris, 1607; and Annal. Ec- 
cles. vol. ii. p. 564. Anno Chris ti 250. 

3 P. 449. 



40 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

4thly. The orator 4 relates that the body of Cyprian, 
having been hidden by a pious woman, was for a 
long time concealed, and was brought to light by a 
revelation made to another woman : whereas the Acts 
of the Proconsulate state, that the body of Cyprian 
of Carthage, after he was beheaded, was carried at 
night by torchlight to the burying-place of Macrobius 
on the Massalian way, near the fishponds, with many 
prayers and exultations \ 

5thly. The orator asserts that the persecution by 
which the Cyprian of whom he speaks was first 
banished and then beheaded, took place under Decius, 
who was bent on destroying so eminent a Christian ; 
whereas, Cyprian of Carthage, though banished in 
the Decian persecution, yet returned from exile, and 
after some years of labour in his episcopal office, 
suffered martyrdom about a.d. 259, at the close of 
Valerian's reign. There is much difficulty in fixing 
these dates with minute exactness ; but allowing for 
all the varieties of reckoning, the inconsistencies and 
anachronisms in this oration remain unaffected. 

6thly. While with one voice it is denied that the 
Cyprian, to whose memory the stain of attempting 
Justina's seduction attached could be the Bishop of 
Carthage, many of the circumstances specified by 
the orator, as belonging to the subject of his eulogy, 
correspond precisely with the acknowledged facts of 
that Saint Cyprian's life. Cyprian's biographer was 
Pontius his own deacon, who witnessed his martyrdom ; 
and what he tells us of the birth, station, learning, 
wealth, liberality, and the death of his master, coin- 
cides exactly with the descriptions in this panegyric. 
The circumstances, too, beautifully told by the orator 
of his Cyprian having written many letters to en- 
courage and comfort his people, both the memoir of 
Pontus and Cyprian's letters still extant prove to 
have belonged to the Bishop of Carthage. Whereas, 



4 P. 448. 



5 Cyprian, Paris, 1726, cxlvii. 



St. Gregory of Nazianzum. 41 

on the other hand, the stories detailed by the orator 
j of his Cyprian practising arts of magic, and summon- 
ing the devil to his aid in the work of seduction, and 
then destroying his books, and then being converted 
by Justina (the very name of her who was the fellow- 
martyr of Cyprian of Nicomedia) after he had at- 
I tempted to ruin her, are all irreconcilable with the 
facts of the life of St. Cyprian of Carthage, who was 
himself a married man before his conversion ; who was 
j converted in his fiftieth year, by his friend Ceecilius 
j the presbyter, and who, instead of disgracing himself 
!j by magical and diabolical arts, was engaged in the 
! pursuits of literature, and practised every moral virtue, 
j The orator distinctly announces that the person of 
j whom he spoke was the renowned Cyprian, Bishop of 
Carthage, the glory of the Christian Church: the 
question again forces itself upon us, u Could Gregory 
the Theologian have been that orator ?" 

7thly. To avoid the scandal of leaving such fabulous 
I imputations on the character of the great St. Cyprian, 
commentators suggest that not he, but Cyprian of 
j Nicomedia, was the person meant by the orator. But 
that suggestion only involves the oration in other in- 
consistencies, besides contradicting the express decla- 
ration of the orator himself. The orator says his 
Cyprian was beheaded under Decius, who died about 
the year 251, whereas no account fixes the martyrdom 
of Cyprian of Nicomedia at an earlier date than the 
reign of Diocletian and Maximinian, which did not 
I commence till after the lapse of thirty years from the 
death of Decius. 

Bthly. Supposing the orator to mean Cyprian of 
Nicomedia, then he is altogether mistaken as to 
1 the kind of death suffered by the martyr; he says it 
was by the sword severing the head from the body 
(the real mode of the martyrdom of Cyprian of 
Carthage), whereas Cyprian of Nicomedia, together 
| with his fellow-martyr, Justina, was burnt on an in- 
strument of torture, called the gridiron, or frying-pan. 

i 



42 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

9thly. If Cyprian of Nicomedia be the subject of the 
orator's panegyric, then the story of the body having 
been hidden by one woman, and afterward supernatu- 
rally shown to another, is no less inapplicable to him, 
than to Cyprian of Carthage. For we are expressly j 
told, that the corpse of the martyr of Nicomedia was 
exposed to be devoured by wild beasts, but that some 
Christian soldiers carried it away by night, and bore 
it to Rome, whence it was removed to Constantinople, 
and buried in the basilica, near the baptistry. 

Lastly. The passage in which the orator tells us 
that one woman concealed and another discovered the 
remains of Cyprian, contains, as it now stands, a most 
extraordinary sentence, by no means to be overlooked 
in our present inquiry as to the author of this oration, 
_« That the women might also be purified ; as those 
women, who both before gave birth to Christ, and 
told his disciples after his resurrection from the dead ; 
so now also the one woman showing, the other giving 
up [the body of Cyprian as] a common benefit." 

* With such inconsistencies, and contradictions, and 
inextricable confusion before us, it is impossible for 
us to regard this panegyric as the production of Gre- 
gory of Nazianzum. We cannot conceive that a 
bishop so deeply imbued with learning in all its 
branches, sacred and secular, doctrinal and historical, 
could have delivered an oration, which professes, in the 
plainest language and by a variety of expressions, to 
be a panegyric of that Cyprian who was the renowned 
prelate of Carthage, the glory of Africa and the world, 
and yet which is pervaded with a tissue of inconsis- 
tencies and contradictions, historical and biographical, 
from its first to its last page. 

The insulated parenthesis, however, in this oration, 
which we have above quoted, is confessed by Roman 
Catholics to be, of all, the most clear and explicit 
testimony of the invocation of the Virgin, which the 
fourth century supplies ! 

But here a question naturally forces itself upon the 



St Gregory of Nazianzum. 



43 



! mind : If no satisfaction can be afforded as to the au- 
] thenticity and genuineness of this oration, will not the 

I undisputed works of Gregory of Nazianzum enable us 
; to infer what were his own sentiments as to the invo- 
j cation of the Virgin Mary ? Will not his compositions, 

either in prose or in verse, satisfactorily inform us 
whether he addressed the Virgin in prayer himself, or 
was aware that the Christian Church, as a body, and 
by its members, so addressed her ? 

Undoubtedly Gregory has left quite enough upon 
| record, in his own undisputed works, to enable any 
i one to answer these questions for himself. The result 

II of a diligent inquiry is, that there is no intimation 
i whatever of Gregory's having looked to the Virgin 

Mary for any help or aid, or ever having invoked her 

i himself; nor does he ever allude to her worship by 
others, as a practice with which he was acquainted. 

But the nature and circumstances of Gregory's 
works take his testimony out of the common class of 

I negative evidence, and invest it with a force of no 
ordinary cogency. The course of his argument often 

I led him to speak of the union in Christ of the divine 
and human nature, and consequently of the birth of 
Christ. On all these occasions he speaks of the Vir- 
gin Mary as a being of untainted purity in body and 
mind, often using expressions which, though not in 
themselves involving any unsound doctrine, yet are 
liable to misinterpretation, and which perhaps made 
the descent to errors in a subsequent age more easy ; 

! but none of which imply any trust in her mediation, or 

; any invocation of her aid 6 . 

Gregory has left behind him a large number of 
poems on religious and moral subjects, of unequal 
merit as compositions, still breathing throughout the 
spirit of an enlightened and pious Christian. Of these 
poems, thirty, at least, are hymns of prayer and thanks- 
giving. Yet, among them, it is in vain to search for 



6 See vol. i. pp.728. 852 ; vol. ii.p. 85. 



44 On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. 

any invocation to the Virgin, or any address to her, 
or any recognition of her influence as intercessor, or 
of any power given to her as the dispenser of blessings 
or mercies. In the variety of his petitions, we find 
him asking for all things needful, both for the soul , 
and body. It is interesting and edifying to compare | 
these prayers, not only with the less solemnly autho- 
rized hymns of prayer and praise now offered in Roman , | 
Catholic churches, but even with the appointed ser- • | 
vices in the Liturgy of Rome. He prays for guid- \ 
ance in his journey, for protection from his enemies, 
for a pure heart and life, for help and acceptance in 
the hour of death ; but we find no " Mary, mother of 
grace, protect us from our enemies, make our lives 
pure, prepare for us a safe journey, receive us in the 
hour of death." Every address is made to God his 
Saviour ; no mention occurs of the Virgin's name, nor 
any allusion to her advocacy. From first to last, God 
is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega 
of Gregory's worship and invocation. 

There are, however, both in his prose compositions 
and in his poems, references to the Virgin ; and the 
testimony they bear is clear and satisfactory. _ 

In his oration on the Nativity, he uses this strong 
expression, " Christ is born of a virgin : ye women, 
live as virgins, that ye may be mothers of Christ." 

In a short poem, speaking of his own mother, he 
says, " Nonna praying at this table was taken away, 
and now shines (with Susannah, Mary, and the 
Annas,) a support of women." 

In one verse, he applies to the Virgin an epithet 
which the translator renders, "like to God," but 
which the commentator properly directs us to interpret 
" pious." . . 

In another poem written in honour of the virgin 
state, as an example of the offspring surpassing its 
parent in excellence, he says : — 

" And Christ is indeed of Mary, but far more ex- 
cellent not only t kan Mary, and those who are 



St. Gregory of Nazianzum. 



45 



clothed with flesh, but also than all the intellects which 
the spacious heaven in veils." 

These are not the addresses and sentiments of one 
who invoked the Virgin, or acknowledged her (as the 
spurious tragedy does) to be "supreme above all 
heavenly orders of beings." 

We will only make one more reference. In his 
sermon on the Nativity, he calls upon the Christian 
to honour Bethlehem and the manger; to hasten 
with the star ; and offer with the magi ; and worship 
with the shepherds; and sing with the angels and 
archangels. " Let there be," says the preacher, " one 
united celebration made by the powers of heaven and 
earth ; for I am persuaded that they join in this fes- 
tival." Of Joseph and the Virgin he there says 
nothing. 



THE END. 



Gilbert & Rivington, Printer?, St. John's Square, London. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



No. XIV. 



WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN. 

EVIDENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 
AGAINST IT. — Continued. 



SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

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1846. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts form part of a series intended to be 
issued, on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published : — 
I. On the Supremacy of the Pope. 

II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

IV. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Old Testament against it. 
V. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evi- 
dence of the New Testament against it. 
VI. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it. 

VII. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evi- 

dence of the Primitive Church against it— < 
[continued], 

VIII. On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. — 

Doctrine and Authorized Services of the 
Church of Rome. 

IX. On the Worship of the Vtrgin.— Practical Work- 
ing of the System. 
X. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.— Evidence 
of Holy Scripture against it. 

XI. On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

XII. On the Worship of the Virgin. — Evidence of the 

Early Church against it. 

XIII. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.— Evidence 

of the Primitive Church against it— [continued]. 

XIV. On the Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence of the 

Primitive Church against it — [continued]. 

XV. On the Romish Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence 

of the Primitive Church against it— [continued]. 

XVI. On the Romish Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence 

of the Primitive Church against it— [concluded]. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



On the Worship of the Virgin. — Evidence of the 
Primitive Church against ih>. — Continued. 



St. Ephraim the Syrian, a.d. 370 — 380. 

Ephraim the Syrian is said to have been bora at 
Nisibis in Mesopotamia, and (though the tradition is 
much questioned) to have been ordained deacon by 
St. Basil. It is generally considered that he never be- 
came a priest. The place of his ministry was Edessa ; 
and his death probably happened between the years 
375 and 380. His works, as they are now offered 
to us, are written partly in Greek, partly in Syriac ; 
though many of the learned are disposed to doubt 
whether he ever wrote himself any work in Greek* 
A legend, which has, not without reason, been thought 
to savour of the fabulous, says, that he spoke only his 
own language till he was ordained by Basil, when 
suddenly, and at once, he spoke Greek as fluently and 
as accurately as his native tongue. 

The great and, for the present at least, the almost 
insurmountable difficulty of distinguishing the genu- 
a 2 



4 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

ine works of Ephraim from the spurious, renders the 
evidence, which would otherwise be valuable, most unsa- 
tisfactory. The Roman edition, by the two Assemani, 
has materially added to the difficulty by admitting, for 
the first time, as genuine, many compositions which 
are unquestionably spurious ; and they have so un- 
faithfully rendered passages to support the doctrines 
of Rome, that till the labours of the learned shall 
have separated the genuine from the spurious works, 
Ephraim Syrus will still be quoted to countenance 
errors, which had no place in his creed. 

These Roman editors attempt to justify their 
admission of works among Ephraim's which were 
never published as his before, on the principles of 
the Church of Rome with regard to apocryphal 
books of Scripture; and then indulge in triumphant 
rhapsodies on the annoyance which heretics would 
feel on finding such accumulated support to Roman 
doctrine poured in from the east. 

For a more particular statement of the unjustifi- 
able proceedings of these editors, we must refer the 
reader to « The Worship of the Virgin," p. 224. He 
will there see how impossible it is to depend with any 
satisfaction on their edition ; and how necessary it is, 
for the sake of the truth, that the arduous task of 
preparing an edition worthy of Christian scholars 
should be undertaken afresh. 

In the midst of so much uncertainty we might 
under other circumstances have been induced to pass 
on ; or, according to the beautiful suggestion of Tille- 
mont, we might have been satisfied with culling a few 
of those affecting passages, which can never fell to 
find a response in the breast of every contrite Chris- 
tian from whatever pen they came. But when per- 
sons of high station in the Church of Rome confi- 
dently appeal in the present day to the evidence of 
Ephraim in proof that prayers were offered to the 
Virgin Mary in the primitive Church ; and in that 
appeal cite passages as genuine and indisputable, 



St. Ephraim, 



5 



j which on the very face of them have no pretensions 
II whatever to be regarded as Ephraim's, to abstain 
| from noticing such proceedings would in an inquiry 

like the present, be nothing else than to sacrifice the 

truth. 

Dr. N. Wiseman, Roman Catholic Bishop of Me- 
\ lipotamus, in his lectures delivered in the chapel 
in Moorfields, in the year 1836, thus speaks (vol. ii. 
p. 109) : 

" Another saint of this age, St. Ephraim, is remaik- 
j able as the oldest father and writer of the Oriental 
j Church. His expressions are really so exceedingly 
! strong, that I am sure many Catholics of the present 
day would feel a delicacy or difficulty in using some 
of them in their prayers, for fear of offending per- 
sons of another religion; they go so much beyond 
those which we use. 5 ' 

Having referred to two passages w T hich need not 
detain us, Dr. Wiseman proceeds — 
I cc There are passages, however, innumerable in his 
\ writings much stronger, and 1 will read you one or 
two as specimens of the many prayers found in his 
works addressed to the blessed Virgin: — 'In thee, 
patroness and mediatrix with God, who was born 
from thee, the human race placeth its joy, and ever 
is dependent on thy patronage, and in thee alone 
hath refuge and strength, who hast full confidence in 
Him. Behold, I also draw nigh to thee with a fer- 
vent soul, not having courage to approach thy Son, 
' but imploring that through thy intercession I may 
| obtain salvation. Despise not then thy servant who 
placeth all his hopes in thee after God ; reject him not 
placed in greatest danger, and oppressed with many 
griefs; but thou who art compassionate, and the 
mother of a merciful God, have mercy upon thy 
servant ; free me from fatal concupiscence, &c.' In 
another prayer we meet with the following words 
I addressed to the same ever-glorious Virgin : 6 After 
I the Trinity, thou art mistress of all ; after the Para- 
i clete, another paraclete; after the Mediator, mediatrix 

a 3 



6 



On the Worship of the Virgin. 



of the whole world.' Surely this is more than enough 
to prove that if the glory of the Syriac Church, this 
friend of the great St. Basil, had lived in our times, 
he would not have been allowed to officiate in the 
English Church, but would have been obliged to 
retire to some humble chapel, if he wished to dis- 
charge his sacred functions !" 

This letter Dr. Wiseman published in 1836 ; and 
after a lapse of five years, in his remarks on the letter 
of the Rev. W. Palmer 1 , the same author undertak- 
ing to compare the present Pope's Encyclical Letter 
with the language of ancient times, has felt himself 
justified in making the following statement:— 

" The Fathers — S. Ephraim Syrus, the friend of 
St. Basil, and most highly extolled by contemporary 
Fathers, thus prays to the blessed Virgin : 6 Entirely 
renew me, making me a temple of the most holy, and 
life-giving, and most excellent Spirit, who dwelt and 
overshadowed thy immaculate womb, Power from on 
high." 

i " Again 2 , the same must be said of St. Ephraim. 
Page after page of his writings is filled with prayers 
to the mother of God, which go far beyond any 
thing that Catholics are in the habit of using 
now-a-days. The few extracts that I make chiefly 
with reference to Mr. Palmer's objections, will afford 
but poor specimens of the context of his prayers. 
Thus he addresses her : ' O Virgin, Lady, mother^ of 

God, most blessed mother of God incline 

thine ear, and hear my words, sent forth from unclean 
and impure lips. For, behold, with a contrite soul 
and an humble mind I have recourse to thy mercy. 
For I have no other hope or refuge, my only com- 
fort and quick defence ; .... of my withered heart 
divine refreshment. For in thee I hope, in thee I 
exult.' Again, c Virgin Lady, mother of God, in 
thee I place all my hopes ; and in thee I trust, more 
exalted than all heavenly power ! '— Operum, torn. iii. 
Graco Lat. p. 524." 

1 London, 1841, p. 20. 2 P. 23. 



St. Epliraim. 



It is very painful to reflect, that Dr. Wiseman in 
aid of his argument, should have thus triumphantly 
quoted, we do not say passages the genuineness of 
which was disputed on one side, and maintained on 
the other (although even in that case we might have 
expected some notice to have been in fairness taken 
of their disputed genuineness)— we do not say pas- 
sages from works which, though once ascribed to a 
Father, have been long acknowledged, even by the 
authorities of his own Church, to be spurious (as we 
found to be the case in his citing the authority of St. 
Athanasius), but absolutely from works which never 
were ascribed to Ephraim in any age, which are 
j not ascribed to him in any one manuscript or printed 
j book, which were never even bound up with 
Ephraim's works before the Roman edition of 1732, 
whose editors published them from a Vatican manu- 
script; while that very edition (from which also Dr. 
Wiseman quotes 1 them) so far from representing 
I them as the prayers of Ephraim, itself enables us to 
prove them not to have been his. The reader who 
wishes to see the case stated fully will find it in 
" The Romish Worship of the Virgin," p. 229. 

These prayers having nothing whatever to do with 
Ephraim Syrus, we need scarcely remark, that internal 
evidence, clear and irresistible, proves them to have been 
of a much later age, while, in point of direct worship 
to the Virgin, they might be cited as countenancing 
all the lamentable corruptions of Bonaventura, when 
! he applies to Mary the language which, in the Psalms, 
j is addressed to the Most High. The writer scruples not 
; to say to the Virgin, " Thou only art the most highest 
overall the earth," nor to apply to her the name which 
our blessed Saviour appropriated to Himself — 66 the 
true vine." The first of these prayers ends thus (it 
is painful to transcribe such an ascription of glory to 
a creature, however pure and holy) : " That being 
| liberated from the darkness of sin, I might be 
I deemed worthy to glorify and freely celebrate thee, 
! a 4 



8 



On the Worship of the Virgin. 



the only true mother of the true Light, Christ our 
God, because thou alone with Him and through 
Him, art blessed and glorified by every creature, visi- 
ble and invisible, now and always, for ever and ever. 
Amen." 

But in the same section. Dr. Wiseman quotes a 
passage found in a sermon, formerly attributed to 
Ephraim, " On the praises of the blessed Virgin," and 
which contains stronger and more decided passages 
than those which he has extracted. For example, the 
following : — " By thee we are reconciled to Christ our 
God, thy most sweet Son. Thou art the only advo- 
cate and succour of sinners, and of those who are 
destitute of help. Thou art the redemption and 
liberation of captives. We have no confidence but 
in thee, most pure virgin. We are wholly under thy 
guardianship and protection. Wherefore, we fly to 
thee alone, and with frequent tears, O most blessed 
mother, we implore thee, and fall, before thee, sup- 
pliantly calling upon thee, and praying thee, that thy 
most sweet Son, our Saviour, and Giver of the life of 
all, may not, on account of the many crimes we have 
committed, take us away from the midst, and, like a 
lion, tear our miserable soul in pieces. Hail, 
fountain of grace, and of all consolation ! Hail, refuge of 
sinners ! Hail, best mediatrix between God and man ! 
Hail, most efficacious reconciler of the whole world ! 
Hail, our comforter ! Hail, sure and best hope of 
our soul ! Hail, sure salvation of all Christians who 
sincerely and truly have recourse to thee ! " 

This discourse is not a whit more the genuine work 
of Ephraim Syrus, than are the prayers already ex- 
amined. Neither the Syriac nor the Greek has it. 
And the candid and judicious Tillemont, though he 
sets the seal of genuineness on all which he is not com- 
pelled to reject, or, at least, leaves, in doubtful cases, 
the decision to the reader, dismisses this work without 
hesitation, and in these strong words : — " Neither the 
eulogy of the holy Virgin, nor the prayer addressed 



/ 



St. Ephraim. 9 

to her, has any thing of St. Ephraim. The eulogy 
appears to be the production of a Jerusalem monk." 

In a passage of the treatise on the second Advent, 
which some have declared to be supposititious, the 
writer addresses the mother of our Lord; but, since 
he equally addresses the cross, and Jerusalem above, 
and the kingdom of heaven, and since the whole is an 
imaginary representation of what will happen to a 
condemned soul, and has nothing to do with our wor- 
ship on earth, the passage needs not detain us 3 . The 
folio wingis represented as being the language of the lost 
souls, mingled with groans and bitter cries, when they 
see themselves left altogether by the Lord and his 
saints : — 

"Farewell, ye holy and just, from whom we are 
separated ; friends and relations, fathers and mothers, 
sons and daughters, apostles, prophets, and martyrs of 
the Lord ! Farewell, lady, who didst give birth to 
God ! Thou, indeed, didst labour much, exhorting us 
to save ourselves ; but we would not repent and be 
saved. Farewell thou, too, honoured and life-giving 
cross ! Farewell, thou paradise of delight, which the 
Lord planted ! Farewell, Jerusalem, who art above, 
the mother of the first-born ! Farewell, kingdom of 
heaven, that hast no end ! All ye, farewell ! we shall 
never see you again ; we are going to judgment, which 
hath no end or rest ! " 

On this passage, however, we must observe, that 
though the Virgin seems to be represented as exhort- 
ing sinners to repent and be saved, yet that implies 
no belief in the writer as to her personal good offices, 
or as to any power in her of addressing the minds of 
sinners ; for in another treatise on the same subject, 
the writer says, " Our mother, Jerusalem above, 
is calling upon us with love and desire to come to 
her : ' Come to me, come to me, my dear children. 
In the bridechamber of your Lord let your numbers 



3 Vol. ii. p. 220. 
A 5 



10 



On the Worship of the Virgin. 



be increased in the light of the holy angels. Let me 
see you with glory and honour, and with joy and 
exaltation. Desire me, my children, as I desire 
you V " 

But while in no one of the works, which we may 
with any thing approaching satisfactory assurance 
regard as Ephraim's, can any address to the Virgin be 
found, praying for her patronage and intercession ; 
many passages occur in which the entire absence of 
the Virgin's name seems to afford strong evidence that 
the writer did not look to her as her worshippers 
would do, nor habitually recur to her as an exalted 
and especial object of pious meditation. For example, 
in his exhortation to fly to God in prayer, when we are 
assailed by the enemy, urging his brethren to keep 
their minds from evil by a succession of holy thoughts, 
he assures them that they never need to be in want 
of a proper subject of meditation ; and he proceeds 
thus : 

"We have what we may meditate upon at all 
times. We have the angels, we have the archangels; 
we have the powers, the ^glorious dominions ; we have 
the cherubim and seraphim ; we have God, the Sove- 
reign of all, that glorious and holy name. We have 
the prophets, we have the apostles ; we have the holy 
Gospels, the words of the Lord ; we have the martyrs, 
we have all the saints, we have the confessors ; we 
have the holy fathers, patriarchs ; we have the shep- 
herds, we have the priests ; we have the heavens, and 
all things in them ! Think on these things, and you 
shall be the sons of the Lord God, by the grace and 
mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom 
be glory and power, now and for ever, through all 
eternity. Amen 5 ." 

If the Virgin Mary had possessed that place in this 
writer's mind which our Roman Catholic brethren 
now assign to her in theirs; if he contemplated her 
as "being exalted above the choir of angels in 
* Vol. i. p. 169. 5 Vol. i. p. 198. 



St. Ephraim. 11 

heaven," as Laving " been taken up into the ethereal 
bridecharnber, where the King of kings sits on his 
starry throne," as being the " refuge of sinners," 
" the queen of angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, 
martyrs, confessors, and all saints," can we conceive 
that, when enumerating the various subjects of a 
Christian's pious contemplation, from the Eternal 
Father down to the Christian himself, he could have 
omitted all mention of the Virgin Mary ? 

Instead, then, of agreeing in the sarcasm that, " if 
this glory of the Syriac Church had lived in our times, 
he would not have been allowed to officiate in the 
English Church, but would have been obliged to 
retire to some humble chapel, if he wished to discharge 
his sacred functions, because he uses expressions, 
when addressing the Virgin, stronger than^ are ever 
used by any of the Roman Church now;" — instead of 
allowing that « page after page of Ephraim's writings 
is filled with prayers to the Mother of God f we 
believe that the most zealous and indefatigable advo- 
cate of her worship cannot bring forward a single 
passage which an upright and enlightened criticism 
would pronounce genuine, and which contains the 
record of a single act of adoration or religious invo- 
cation of the Virgin Mary, either by Ephraim himself 
or by any of his contemporaries. The prayers cited 
with such unqualified confidence by Dr. Wiseman, 
have nothing whatever to do with Ephraim the Syrian 
of Edessa, as their author or recorder. 

St Gregory of Nyssa, a.d. 390 6 # 

Gregory, brother of Basil the Great, devoted him- 
self for many years to the calling of an orator and 
rhetorician. About the age of forty, and about the 
year 372, he was consecrated Bishop of Nyssa in Cap- 
padocia by Basil. He was a married man ; and 7 Gre- 



5 Three vol. fol. Paris, 1633. 

A 6 



7 Epist. 95. 



12 On the Worship of the Virgin. 



gory of Nazianzum condoles with him on the loss of 
his wife, after he had been admitted into the Chris- 
tian priesthood. In common with many of his con- 
temporaries, he suffered much discomfort and perse- 
cution in consequence of the bitter controversies 
which distracted the Church. The time of his re- 
lease from the burden and cares of a servant of Christ 
is not certainly known ; but it could not have been 
before the closing years of the fourth century, for he 
was unquestionably present at the Council of Con- 
stantinople, a.d. 394 8 . 

Besides those works the genuineness of which is 
not disputed, some are ascribed to him which are with 
reason suspected, while others must at once be set 
aside as spurious, bearing in their very titles and 
character the impress of a later age. With reference, 
however, to the question now before us, we need 
not dwell on this point, because in none of the works, 
whether rightly or incorrectly referred to Gregory, 
is any countenance whatever given to the invocation 
of the Virgin Mary. In other departments of faith 
and practice we perceive^traces of superstition in his 
own mind, and indications of that degeneracy and 
corruption which then began to tarnish many portions 
of the Christian Church. In his oratorical harangues 
over the ashes of martyrs (if those homilies be the 
genuine productions of this Gregory), while we are 
offended by much of the declamation of the sophist, 
we seek in vain for that soberness of judgment which 
is indispensable in a teacher of divine things. But 
in those genuine works, in which he evidently wrote 
his thoughts calmly and deliberately, there is much 
worthy of the pen of a Christian philosopher. Thus 
in his elaborate work written against the errors of 
Eunomius, we find reflections seldom surpassed by the 
best writers of any age : 

"That nothing which is brought into existence by 



8 Fabricius, vol. ix. p. OS. 



St. Gregory of Nyssa. 13 

l creation is an object of worship to man, the divine 
! word has enacted, as we may learn from almost the 
whole of the sacred volume. Moses, the tables, the 
law, the prophets in order, the Gospels, the decrees 
of all the Apostles, equally forbid us to look to the 
creature 9 . . . That we may, therefore, not be subject 
to these things, we who are taught by the Scriptures 
to look to the true Godhead, are instructed to regard 
every created being as foreign from the divine nature, 
and to serve and reverence the uncreated nature 
! alone, the characteristic and distinguishing property 
; of which is neither to have had any beginning of ex- 
istence, nor ever to cease to exist V 

In his comment on the Lord's Prayer 2 , which will 
repay a fuller examination, Gregory defines prayer to 
be " A petition for some good presented with suppli- 
cation to God adding among other valuable sug- 
gestions, " Have a pure mind, and then boldly ad- 
dress God with your own voice, and call Him your 
i Father, who is the Sovereign of all. He will look 
upon you with fatherly eyes ; He will clothe you with 
the divine robe, and adorn you with his ring; He 
will prepare your feet with Gospel sandals for the 
journey upwards, and will settle you in the heavenly 
country 3 ." 

We have already said that in the works of Gregory 
we can discover no single trace, however faint, of any 
religious invocation of the Virgin. His evidence, 
however, does not consist merely in the absence of 
an expression of religious feelings towards her in 
discussions which might not naturally suggest them, 
and where silence might be compatible with such 
feelings ; but when speaking of God manifest in the 
flesh, of the pure and spotless nature of Christ as 
man, of God becoming man, taking Himself a bodyin 
which the fulness of the Godhead should dwell, though 
he speaks much of the miraculous conception of Christ, 

9 Vol. ii. p. 572. i Vol. ii. p. 574. 

2 Vol. ii. p. 724. 3 p. 73L 



14 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

and his miraculous birth, he draws our minds, as it were, 
of deliberate purpose, from the person of her who gave 
birth to the Saviour, and fixes them on the office and 
part assigned to her in that mysterious dispensation. 
There may be exceptions which even a careful exami- 
nation may have passed unobserved; but, in general, 
when he is most specific in maintaining the spotless 
purity of Christ's birth, he never mentions the Virgin 
Mary by name; his expressions for the most part 
being ""The Virgin purity," "The Virginity," and 
(much less frequently) « the Virgin." His object is 
to maintain that God became man by a miraculous 
birth of virgin-purity ; and he seems to regard the 
Virgin as having discharged her office in this myste- 
rious economy of grace when she had given birth to 
the Redeemer, who took our nature of the seed ot 
David from her substance. 

In his work on the life of Moses, and his account 
of the creation, he thus speaks of Christ: 

« This is the only-begotten God, who Himself com- 
prehends all things, and yet pitched his tabernacle 
among us. Marriage did not produce his divine 
flesh ; but He becomes the framer of his own body, 
marked out by the finger of God ; for the Holy 
Ghost came upon the Virgin, and the power ot the 
Highest overshadowed her *." 

It must be remarked that, whereas the Roman 
Ritual applies the language of the book of Ecclesiastes 
and the Song of Solomon to the Virgin Mary, and 
authors who have written in defence of her worship, 
appeal to those oracles of truth as evidence of her 
exalted character, yet this Gregory, m his elaborate 
interpretation of those books, though he speaks very 
much at large, and very minutely of Christ s birth, 
does not allude to the Virgin at all. This point is 
more especially observable in his spiritual application 

* Vol. i. pp. 224. 234. _ . „ 

5 Coccius, vol. i. 262, appeals to Canticles, iv. 7, as a scripture proot 

of the supreme excellence of the Virgin. See also Roman Breviary, 

.Est. p- 600. 



St Gregory of Nyssa. 



15 



of the Song of Solomon to the Christian dispen- 
sation. He considers that under the figure of a mar- 
riage, is represented the union between the human 
soul and God. In the course of his discussion he 
refers to St. John lying on our Lord's bosom; he 
invites the daughters of Jerusalem to look to their 
mother Jerusalem which is above ; he interprets one 
passage as foreshadowing the angels attending our 
Lord when He became man ; another as fulfilled in 
the devotedness of the twelve Apostles ; another in 
the beauty of the Christian Church ; he speaks of 
the genealogy of Christ traced from Abraham and 
David; he directs our thoughts to Nathanael and 
Andrew, and " the great Apostle John ;" he tells us 
of Paul pouring the pure doctrine of truth into the 
ears of the holy Virgin, but that virgin was 
Thecla. Of the Virgin Mary he says nothing. 

If from the works of Gregory of Nyssa we turn to the 
Roman Ritual as established and observed at the pre- 
sent day, the conclusion is forced upon us, that the 
framers of that Liturgy and this Gregory have not 
drawn from the same well-head. Passage after pas- 
sage in the Roman service on the feasts of the Virgin 
are applied to her, which Gregory applies to the 
glory of Christ's divinity, of his truth, and of his 
Church. Nay, when he dwells on the mystery, that 
Christ alone of all the myriads on myriads of men 
was born, not as others, but of the purity of a virgin % 
he applies no single passage of the whole book to the 
Virgin Mary ; nor does he speak of her personally, but 
only of the Virginhood of which Christ was born 7 . 

One or two passages will suffice to establish these 
points, though the full weight of the evidence can be 
felt only by seeing in the very writings of Gregory 
how many opportunities offered themselves to him, for 
the natural expression of sentiments of religious re- 
verence* and worship towards the Virgin Mary, as 



G P. 667. 



7 See pp. 668, 669. 



16 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

an object of invocation, where we find very different 
thoughts suggested. In his first homily on the 
Canticles, he says : 

"Think ye that I am speaking of that bolomon 
who was born of Bathsheba? Another Solomon is 
sio-nified, who is also himself born of the Seed of 
David, whose name is Peace, the true King ot 
Israel, whose wisdom is unbounded, or rather whose 
essence is wisdom and truth 8 ." 

On the mystery, How in Virginhood there could be 

birth ? he says : , , j a. 

« Since one part of Christ is not produced, and the 
other is produced, the unproduced we call that which 
is eternal and before the world, and which made all 
thino-s ; the produced that which, according to the 
dispensation effected for our sakes, was conformed to 
the bodv of our humility. Rather it would be prefer- 
able to set forth this idea in the very words of God: 
the Unproduced we call the Word, who was in the 
beginning, by whom all things were made, and without 
whom was nothing that was made ; the Produced, we 
call Him who became flesh and dwelt among us, whom 
even when incarnate the effulgent glory shows to be 
God manifest in the flesh— verily God, the only be- 
gotten, who is in the bosom of the Father 9 ." _ 

In all these passages, (and many others might be 
added,) even when maintaining that the Virgin purity 
was preserved in the birth of Christ 1 , there is no 
mention made of the Virgin Mary, nor one word 
uttered in her praise ; no reliance placed on her 
merits, or on the power of her intercession ; no re- 
ligious invocation for her good offices, or for the 
mediation of her prayers. With Gregory of ^yssa, 
God in Christ is all in all. 

St. Ambrose, a.d. 397. 

9 

St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, has ever been held 

« Vol. L p. 475. 3 Vol. i. p. 662. 1 Vol. ii. p. 537- 



St. Ambrose. 



17 



j in high esteem by every branch of the Catholic Church, 
no less than by the Church of Rome. In a collect in 
! the Roman Ritual, (a prayer unjustifiably and un- 
\ holily addressed to the spirit of a mortal, however 
I pure,) he is called "most excellent Teacher," "Light 
| of the Holy Church," " Lover of the divine law ;" and 
many of the hymns which are ascribed to him, the Church 
of Rome has adopted into her public service. He 
was born in France, probably about the year 340 ; 
] and his death is generally referred to the year 897. 
j He became Bishop of Milan in 374. 

Through all the works of St. Ambrose, not a single 
!| passage can be found which gives the faintest indica- 
I tion that the worship of the Virgin in any shape 
formed part of Christian worship in his time, or that 
he and his fellow-Christians placed any confidence in 
her intercession, or offered prayers to Almighty God 
pleading for acceptance through her mediation. And 
this, in the case of St. Ambrose, is proof of no ordinary 
j weight and character. For not only are his writings 
interspersed throughout with prayers and supplications 
to the thpone of grace, (in some of which mention 
is directly made of the incarnation of our Lord 
in the Virgin Mary,) but he has left us many of 
his own hymns which, as w r e have said, the Roman 
Church has incorporated into her Liturgy. These 
hymns glow, indeed, with fervent piety, and are well 
fitted to lift the Christian's soul heavenward to our 
God and Saviour; but in no single line does Ambrose 
i rob that Saviour of his own proper and exclusive 
honour as our only Mediator and Advocate ; no where 
does he make mention of the Virgin's intercession 
under the plea that he is honouring the Saviour when 
he honours the Mother of that Saviour. 

Had any such worship of the Virgin prevailed in 
his time as we now see in the Church of Rome, 
surely these fruits of the heart and the pen of the 
| Christian poet would have contained some intima- 
; tions of it. Surely these divine songs would have 



18 



On the Worship of the Virgin. 



afforded ample room for his feelings and his imagina- 
tion in addresses to the Virgin, had his faith and his 
understanding sanctioned any mention of her name 
as an object of religious worship. But the contrary 
is most strikingly the case. j- 
In the Breviary, corrected agreeably to the decree of 
the Council of Trent, and commanded by Pope Pius in 
1568 to be used throughout the world, many of the 
hymns are ascribed to their supposed authors. The hymns 
ascribed to St. Ambrose stand out in strong, and at 
the same time lovely, contrast with the degenerate 
effusions of later days. No address to the Virgin is 
discoverable in any of them ; no prayer to the Su- 
preme Being to hear her intercession in the Chris- 
tian's behalf. The addresses of Ambrose are made: 
to God alone, and are offered to Christ alone. In 
these hymns he speaks again and again of the Virgin- 
mother 2 , whose honour and joy was Christ; he quotes 
our Lord's words upon the cross, "Woman, behold 
thy Son!" he speaks of the believer's hopes in life; 
and in death; but that hope he describes as being 
founded not in the patronage, and advocacy, and 
intercession of the Virgin, but solely in the mercy 
of God, who for our sakes became man and was ; 
born of a pure Virgin. We must also observe that 
whereas the hymns of later ages represent her as the ii 
Bride of the Most High, and speak of the Almighty . j 
as her Husband, whose wrath she may appease, Am- 
brose represents her as the royal palace of chastity, 
the chamber from which the Saviour proceeded] 
(alluding to the Psalmist's expression of the Sun 
going forth from his chamber rejoicing as a giant to 
run his course), the temple in which for a while He 
dwelt. But when he speaks of Him as a Bridegroom 
the bride is his holy Church, of whom He is at once 
the Spouse, the Redeemer, and the Builder. 

The works of Ambrose lead us to infer that he 



2 Hymn xii. 



St. Ambrose. 19 

J considered the Virgin Mary holy and immaculate in 
her person, and holy and mysterious in her office ; 
blessed among women ; and in purity of mind, piety 
j of soulj devotedness to God, attention to friends and 
j relatives in their need, in a word, in all that can 
adorn the servants of heaven, a bright example for 
j those who would be approved servants of God. He 
jl also strenuously maintains (though sometimes by 
j arguments which may not be generally approved) 
j that after the birth of Christ she remained a virgin 3 . 
In his work on Virgins, and in his treatise called 
| " The Institution of Virgins," he dwells very much 
j on her excellence ; and he encourages Christian 
I virgins by suggesting the thought of her presenting 
j them to our Saviour in heaven 4 ; and had he ad- 
dressed her by invocation, or offered prayers to God 
through her intercession, it would appear of all things 
most improbable that he should not have given the 
slightest indication of such belief and practice, either 
I on his own part or on the part of the Church. But 
; so it is. 

\ It may be satisfactory to quote two or three spe- 
cimens of the mode in which Ambrose speaks of the 
Virgin. He generally calls her Mary; but sometimes, 
though very rarely, adds (what^we are ever ready 
ourselves to add) the epithet "holy 5 ." 

On the words of Elizabeth, " And blessed is she 
who believed," Ambrose observes, 6i You see that 
Mary did not doubt, but believed ; and consequently 
she obtained the fruit of faith. 6 And blessed,' he 
says, 6 art thou who believest/ But ye also are 
blessed who have heard and believed ; for every soul 
that believeth both conceives and brings forth the 
Word of God, and acknowledges his work. Let the 
soul of Mary be in every one so as to magnify the 
Lord; let the spirit of Mary be in every one so as 
to rejoice in God. If, according to the flesh, there is 

| 3 Vol. ii. pp. 260, 261. 4 De Virg. lib. ii. c. 2. 

5 Vol.i. pp. 1290, 1291. 



20 



On the Worship of the Virgin. 



one mother of Christ ; yet, according to faith, Christ 
is the fruit of every one : for every soul receives the 
Word of God; provided, nevertheless, that, being { 
immaculate and free from vice, it preserves its chaste- 
ness with unpolluted modesty." i) 

Thus it is, that when he speaks of the Virgin's a 
character and conduct, his object is not to exalt her, i 
but to excite others to follow her example. 

The following is the comment of Ambrose, on the i 
passage of St. Luke, " My mother and brethren are 
these who hear the word of God and do it." 

" He is a master in morality who affords, in his own 
person, an example toothers; and the preceptor is 
himself the person to put his own precepts in practice. 
For whereas He was about to instruct others, that one 
who would not leave his father and mother is not ! 
worthy of the Son of God, He first subjects Himself to 
this same rule ; not that He might disclaim the kind- 
nesses of maternal piety, (for his own rule is, He who 
honoureth not his father or mother, let him die the 
death,) but because He acknowledges that He owes 
more to the mysteries of his Father than to the affec- 
tions of his mother. Nor are parents unjustly dis- 
carded here; but the ties of the mind are represented 
as more obligatory than the ties of the body. They 
who seek to see Christ ought not to stand without ; 
for if parents themselves, when they stand with- 
out, are not acknowledged, (and perhaps they are not 
acknowledged, for an example to us,) how shall we, if 
we stand without, be acknowledged? Consequently, 
here the case is not (as some heretics lay their snares) 
that the mother is denied, who is acknowledged even j 
from the cross ; but Heaven's commands are preferred \ 
to bodily relationships V |I 

The heretics to whom Ambrose here refers were 
those who denied that Christ was very man, born of 
Mary 7 . :t 



• Vol. i. p. 1392. 



7 See Jerome on Matt. xii. 



St. Ambrose. 



21 



In his observations on what took place at the 
! Crucifixion, Ambrose, recognizing the entire and 
perfect sacrifice for sin offered by Christ alone, and 
, powerfully setting aside all assistance from others in 
i that w 7 ork, at the same time suggests the possibility of 
a strange idea having arisen in the Virgin Mary's 
mind, that her death might assist somewhat towards 
the good of mankind, to be effected at that hour ; an 
idea which Ambrose represents as the offspring of 
ignorance in a truly pious mind, ready to sacrifice self 
J to duty. It is remarkable too that here, as in his 
| hymns, he calls her, not the Queen of Heaven, or the 
Spouse of God, but the palace of the King, the habi- 
1 tation of the temple of the Son of God ; just as the 
Apostles called every true Christian the temple of 
God, the habitation of God through the Spirit 8 . The 
same sentiments occur in other of his works 9 . 

" But Mary, no less than it became the mother of 
' Christ, when the Apostles fled, stood before the cross, 
and with pious eyes beheld the wounds of her Son, 
because she expected not the death of the pledge, 
but the salvation of the world ; or perhaps, because 
she had known of the redemption of the world by the 
death of her Son, the royal palace thought that she 
might herself, by her death, also add somewhat to the 
public good; but Jesus wanted not an assistant for the 
redemption of all. He accepted his mother's affection, 
but He needed not the assistance of man." " We 
have, then, a teacher of piety. This lesson 
teaches us what a mother's affection should imitate, 
and what the reverence of sons should follow ; namely, 
that they (the mothers) should offer themselves amidst 
the dangers of their children; that to the children, 
the mother's anxiety should be a source of greater 
grief than the sadness of their own death V 

In his comment on the 118th Psalm, St. Ambrose 
: thus speaks 2 : 

8 Eph. ii. 22. 2 Cor. vi. 16, &c. 0 Vol. ii. p. 260. 

1 Vol. i. p. 1533, and vol. ii. p. 1048. 2 Vol. i. p. 1254. 



22 On the Worship of the Virgin. 

« Come, O Lord Jesus, seek thy servant ; seek thy 
wearied sheep ; Come, O Shepherd. Come, O Lord, 
becausethoualonecanstrecalawandering sheep. Come, 
and seek thy sheep, not by servants, not by hirelings, 
but by thine own self. Do thou take me m the flesh, 
which fell in Adam. Take me Thou, not of Sarah, 
but of Mary, that it [the flesh taken of Mary] might 
be a virgin not corrupt, but a virgin by grace, free 
from every stain of sin. Bear me on the^ cross which 
brings salvation to those in error, in which alone is 
rest to the weary, in which they who die will live." 

We must not bring to a close our review of the 
evidence of St. Ambrose, without referring briefly to 
a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, which 
was for ages "ascribed to him as its author, but which, 
as the Benedictine editors are decidedly of opinion, is 
not to be received as his composition. We will, there- 
fore, (as the safer course,) not cite it in evidence of his 
sentiments 3 . But, whatever were its origin, whether it 
were of an earlier or a later age, it is a very interest- 
ing work ; and if it must be assigned to a time when 
the Invocation of Saints and the pleading of their 
merits had been established, it becomes indeed a very 
extraordinary production. On the passage, "Pro- 
fessing themselves wise, they became fools/ we read 
this comment 4 : 

" They think themselves wise because they fancy 
they have investigated the laws of nature ; examining 
the courses of the stars, and the qualities of the ele- 
ments, but despising the Lord of these. They are 
therefore fools; for if these are objects of praise, how 
much more the Creator of these ? Yet, when they 

3 Hencmar, and the Church of Lyons, and the Third Council of 
Aken, with many others, have quoted largely from this work as the 
production of Ambrose. Rabbanus, Lanfranc, Peter Lombard and 
Gratian, and innumerable others, as the Benedictine editors candidly 
inform us, and even Cardinal Bellarmin considered it as the genuine 
work of Ambrose. 

* Vol.ii. p. 34 of Appendix, 



St. Ambrose. 



23 



are under a feeling of shame, they are accustomed to 
j use this wretched excuse for neglecting God, that by 
means of those 5 they can approach to God as men 
approach a king by his courtiers. Come then ; is any 
I one so foolish and forgetful of his own safety as to claim 
for the courtier the honour due to the king ? Should 
any be found attempting such a thing, they would 
justly be condemned of high treason. And yet these 
men do not think themselves guilty who transfer the 
honour of God to a creature, and, leaving the Lord, 
j adore their fellow-servants ; as if there were any 

• THING FURTHER THAT COULD BE RESERVED FOR 

j God. Men approach a king by his officers and 
i courtiers, only because the king is a man, and knows 
not to whom he ought to entrust his government. But 
to secure God's favour, (from whom nothing is hid, 
for He knows the deserts of every one,) there is need 
not of an intercessor, but of a devout mind ; for where- 
soever such a one addresses Him, He will answer 
! him." 

Whoever was the author of these passages, they 
entirely coincide with the sentiments of St. Ambrose, 
in* his undisputed work upon the death of Theodosius: 
" Thou alone, O Lord, art to be invoked ; Thou alone 
art to be implored to cause him (the Emperor) to be 
represented in his sons. Do thou, O Lord, by 
guarding even the little ones in this humility, pre- 
serve those safe who hope in Thee 6 ." 

5 Per istos — " those men." The passage is obscure, but he imme- 
diately speaks of the dead men and their images, whom idolaters 
worship. 

6 Vol. ii. p. 1207- See also the strong language in which he dis- 
cards all idea of any created being becoming our spiritual phy- 
sician, or promoting by his good offices our restoration to God. 
Vol. i. p. 1352. 



I 



Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



No. XY. 



ON THE 

ROMISH WORSHIP OF THE VIRGIN. 

EVIDENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 
AGAINST IT. — Continued. 




LONDON: 

Printed for the 

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

SOLD AT TPIE DEPOSITORY, 
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE; 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 

[664] 1846. 



ADVERTISEMENT, 



The present Tracts form part of a series intended to be 
issued on some of the -chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published : — 

I. On the Supremacy of the Pope. 
II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 8 

IV. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evi- 

dence of the Old Testament against it. 
V. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evi- 
dence of the New Testament against it. 

VI. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. — Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it. 

VII. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it — 
[continued], 

VIII. On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. — 
Doctrine and Authorized Services of the 
Church of Rome. 
IX. On the Worship of the Virgin. — Practical Work- 
ing of the System. 
X. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. — Evidence 

of Holy Scripture against it. 
XL On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 
XII. On the Worship df the Virgin. — Evidence of the 
Early Church against it. 

XIII. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. — Evidence 

of the Primitive Church against it — [continued]. 

XIV. On the Worship of the Virgin.' — Evidence of the 

Primitive Church against it — [continued]* 
XV. On the Romish Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence 

of the Primitive Church against it— [continued], 
XVI. On the Romish Worship of the Virgin. — Evidence 
of the Primitive Church against it — [concluded']. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 

: 

Romish Worship of the Virgin. — Evidence of the 
Primitive Church against it ( continued ). 



St Chrysostom and St. Augustine. 

Two of the brightest ornaments of the Christian 
world next offer themselves for our examination ; St. 
John Chrysostom, the glory of the Greek Church, 
and St. Augustine, equally the honour of the Latin. 
According to some accounts, these two luminaries of 
our holy laith were born into the world in the 
very same year, a.d. 354, though others place the 
birth of Chrysostom as early as A.p. 347. Chry- 
sostom was called to his rest when he had not long 
passed the meridian of man's life as a labourer in 
Christ's vineyard ; whereas, his brother confessor was 
left to toil successfully in the same field, till he had 
passed the age after which the Psalmist bids us to ex- 
pect only labour and sorrow. 

St. Chrysostom^ a.d. 405 K 

John, surnamedfrom his eloquence, Chrysostom, or 
"the golden-mouthed," was born in Antioch, of Coelo- 

1 Thirteen vols. fol. Paris, 1718. 

a2 



4 



Romish Worship of the Virgin. 



syria. His father died soon after his birth; and he 
was not baptized till his twenty-third year. At the 
age of twenty-seven, he was ordained deacon, and at 
thirty- two priest. In his forty-fourth year, he suc- 
ceeded Nectarius, the successor of Gregory of Nazi- 
anzum, as Bishop of Constantinople. From this office 
he was deposed, and he died in exile somewhere 
about the year 407. 

In our endeavours to ascertain the standard of doc- 
trine, the habitual views, and ruling principles and 
sentiments of this noble Christian writer, the greatest 
care is necessaryin distinguishing between his genuine 
works, and those productions which must be # pro- 
nounced spurious. The treatises (as the Benedictine 
editor assures us) are innumerable which the fraud of 
booksellers, and the vanity of petty authors, have com- 
bined to impose upon the world as Chrysostom's, but 
which have no pretensions to such a place in literature ! 
Would that a wide and careful research were instituted 
by men adequate to the task, into the treasures which 
still remain unexamined, or are mingled with deceitful 
counterfeits ! Next to the blessed Scriptures them- 
selves, no department of theology so powerfully ap- 
peals to the Christian world for the united efforts of 
those to whom primitive truth is dear, as the text of 
the early writers; nor would any field more abundantly 
repay the labour bestowed upon it. Applicable as this 
remark would be in the case of every one of those 
ancient Fathers any of whose remains have been saved 
from the wreck of time, it is forced upon us with 
especial interest in our examination of St. Chrysos- 
tom's testimony. 

The attempt to support a system, however long pro- 
pagated, or however highly valued, by counterfeit wit- 
nesses, and by evidence which will not bear the sifting 
of fair and able criticism, (even were it consistent with 
the principles of Christianity, or of common honesty,) 
cannot be eventually successful. The Benedictine 
editors have done much toward purifying the volumes 



St. Chrysostom. 



5 



of Chrysostom from the gross impositions with which 
age after age had loaded them ; but much yet remains 
to be done. For the immediate object of our inves- 
tigation, to keep on the safe side, we shall cite no 
passage which those editors have not admitted as 
genuine, nor exclude any which they have not pro- 
nounced to be spurious. 

The result, then, of a thorough examination of the 
genuine works of St. Chrysostom is the conviction, that 
from his first to his last page there is not the faintest 
intimation that he either addressed the Virgin Mary by 
invocation, or placed any confidence in her merits and 
intercession himself, or was at all aware that Chris- 
tians either individually or as a body in the Church, 
prayed to her even for her prayers, or prayed to God 
to hear them, through her intercession. But the 
testimony of Chrysostom is not merely negative ; on 
the contrary, it is direct, and clear, and manifold, that 
he addressed in prayer God alone, and only through 
his blessed Son; never invoking the Virgin, nor 
mentioning her name even in a subordinate sense as 
intercessor or mediator. 

The sentiments of Chrysostom on the necessity, the 
dignity, and the blessed effects of prayer, are so just, 
and at the same time so encouraging and uplifting, 
and so applicable to us all, that before we cite the 
proofs of these positions, the time willtiot be misspent 
which we may devote, by way of preparation, to some 
few of the passages which convey his views on prayer 
in general. We shall find him exhorting sincere 
Christians to approach with humble confidence to the 
throne of grace, taking with them faith, and repent- 
ance, and obedient love ; and seeking then for no 
foreign aid or recommendation, and looking for no in- 
tercessor in heaven but Christ only. In his comment 
on the fourth Psalm we read these beautiful obser- 
vations on the efficacy of prayer 2 : — 



2 Vol. v. p. 8. 
A 3 



6 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

" If I possess justice, some one will say, what need of 
prayer, for that will guide us right in all things; and He 
who gives knows what we need ? Because prayer is no 
slight bond of love towards God, accustoming us to 
habitual intercourse with Him, and leading us to wis- 
dom; for if any one by intercourse w T ith some admirable 
man gathers much fruit from the intercourse, how 
much more will he who has continual intercourse with 
God ! But we have not an adequate sense of the value 
of prayer, since w r e do not apply to it with thoughtful 
care, nor employ it agreeably to the law of God. 

" If we would approach with becoming carefulness, 
and as persons about to converse with God, we should 
then know even before we received what we asked, 
how great a gain we must reap by its fruit ; for a man 
who is trained to converse with God as we ought, will 
afterwards be an angel. It is thus that Ms soul is 
loosened from the bonds of the body ; thus his reason is 
lifted on high ; thus is his home removed to^ heaven ; 
thus does he look above the things of this life ; thus 
is he stationed by the royal throne itself, though he be 
poor, though he be a servant, obscure and unlettered. 
For God seeketh not the beauty of language, nor the 
composition of words, but the loveliness of the soul ; 
and if that speak what is well-pleasing to Him, the man 
goes away with the full accomplishment of his purpose. 
See you how great facility is here ? Among men, 
when a man applies to any one, he must needs be a 
good speaker, and must well flatter those who are 
about the great man, and devise many other schemes 
to insure a favourable reception ; but here he wants 
nothing but a sober mind, and then there is nothing 
to prevent his being nigh to God, 6 for I am a God 
drawing nigh, and not a God far off.' So that to be 
far off is owing to ourselves, for He is Himself always 
near. And why, say I, that we need not oratory ? 
Often we do not even need a voice ; for even if you 
speak in your hearts, and call upon Him aright, He 
will readily assent even then. 



St. Chrysostom. 



" No soldier stands by to drive you away ; no jave- 
lin-bearer to cut off the opportunity ; no one to say, 
You cannot approach Him now, come again. But 
whenever you come, He is standing to hear ; be it in 
the time of dinner, or of supper, at midnight, in the 
market-place, in the way, in the chamber; though 
you approach within, and present yourself to the 
Ruler in his judgment-hall, and call Him. There is 
nothing to hinder Him from assenting to your request, 
if you call on Him aright. There is no ground for 
saying, I fear to approach and present my petition ; 
my enemy is standing by. Even this obstacle is re- 
moved. He will not attend to your enemy, and cut 
short your suit. You may always and continually 
plead with Him, and there is no difficulty. 

" There is no need of porters to introduce you ; nor 
stewards, nor comptrollers, nor guards, nor friends ; but 
when you by yourself approach, then He will most of all 
listen to you ; then, I say, when you ask no one. We do 
not so much prevail with Him when we ask by others, 
as when we ask by ourselves ; for since it is our own 
friendship He loves, He takes every means of fixing 
our confidence in Him. When He sees us doing this 
by ourselves, then He especially grants our request. 
Thus did He in the case of the woman of Canaan : 
when Peter and James applied to Him in her behalf, 
He did not assent ; but when she herself persevered. 
He soon granted her request. For though He seemed 
to defer it for a little while, He did so, not to put her 
off, but to crown her the more, and to draw her sup- 
plication nearer to Himself. Let us therefore take 
good heed to approach God in prayer; and let us 
learn how we ought to offer our prayer/' 

On the importunity and success of this Syrophoe- 
nician, Chrysostom dwells repeatedly, and in such a 
manner as to force us to believe that he cannot 
himself have had recourse to the invocation of any 
other being than God alone, or have suggested to 
others any confidence in the intercession of any other 

a 4 



8 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

mediator than Christ only, certainly not making an \ 
exception in favour of the Virgin Mary. In his com- , 
ment on Genesis, chap, xvi. 3 , he furnishes us with many \ 
valuable reflections on the mercy of the Saviour, and \ 
the holy confidence with which true Christians may rest ji 
all their hopes in Him, and approach Him in prayer, ' 
with sure trust that they will never be sent empty 
away. But on the general sentiments of Chrysostom, \ 
as to the duty of our praying only to God through 
the mediation of his blessed Son, without interposing 
any other mediation, we will confine ourselves to two 
more extracts ; the first from his Homily, composed 
expressly on the woman of Canaan ; the other from 
his Comment on the Epistle to the Romans. In the 
first passage we read these words : 

" 'And Jesus going out thence, went into the parts 
of Tyre and Sidon, and behold a woman !' The 
Evangelist wonders, I Behold a woman !' the ancient 
armour of the devil, she who expelled me from para- 
dise, the mother of sin, the prime leader of transgres- 
sion. That very woman comes, that very nature, a 
new and unlooked for wonder. The Jews fly from her, 
and the woman follows Him. 6 And behold a woman, 
coming out from those coasts, besought Him, saying, 

0 Lord, thou son of David, have mercy on me.' The 
woman becomes an Evangelist, and acknowledges his 
divinity and the dispensation. c O Lord,' here she 
confesses his sovereignty : c Thou son of David,' 
here his incarnation : * Have mercy on me,' see her 
wise spirit. ' Have mercy on me ;' I have no good 
deeds ; I have no confidence from my manner of life ; 

1 betake myself to mercy, to the common haven of 
sinners; I betake myself to merqy, where is no judg- 
ment-seat, where my'safety is freed from investigation. 
Though she were thus a sinner and a transgressor, 
she is bold enough to approach. And see the wisdom 
of the woman ! She calls not on James, she does not 
supplicate John, she approaches not Peter, she does 

3 Vol. iv. p. 38G. 



St. Chrysostom. 



9 



! not force her way through their company. * I have 
no need of a mediator ; but taking repentance to 
plead with me, I approach the Fountain itself. For 
this cause He came down, for this cause He became 
! incarnate, that I might converse with Him. 5 The 
Cherubim tremble at Him above, and here below a 
harlot converses with Him. 6 liave mercy on me.' It is 
a simple word, and yet it finds a fathomless sea of sal-* 
vation. 6 Have mercy on me. For this cause Thou didst 
come ; for this cause Thou tookedst upon thee flesh ; for 
I this cause Thou becamest what I am. Above is trem- 
! bling, below is confidence. Have mercy on me. I 
I have no need of a mediator. # Have mercy on me!' " 
In the other passage, to which we adverted above, 
we find Chrysostom thus commenting on the Apos- 
tolic benediction : — 

" ' The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 
Amen.' See you whence we ought to begin, and where 
to end all things. For from this He laid the foundation 
1 of his epistle, and from this also he put on its roof; at 
once both praying for the parent of all good things for 
them 4 , and mentioning also every benefit. For the chief 
province of a true instructor is 'to benefit his disciples, 
not by word only but also by prayer ; wherefore, he 
says, we will persevere in prayer, and in the ministration 
of the word. Who then will pray for us, now 
that Paul has gone away ? These who are 
imitators or Paul. Only let us render ourselves 
worthy of such patronage, that we may not only 
hear Paul's voice here, but even when we go thither 
may be found worthy to see the champion of Christ. 
And if we listen to him here, we shall the rather see 
him there ; even though not ourselves standing near, 
yet we shall at all events see him shining near the 
royal throne. There the cherubim glorify, there the 
seraphim fly ; these we shall see, together with Peter 
and the choir of saints, Paul being their chief leader 

4 Chrysostom has been here misunderstood ; he speaks of grace 
i as the parent, or mother of every blessing. 



10 Momish Worship of the Virgin. 

and president 5 ; and we shall enjoy true love. For if 
when he was here he so loved men, that on the choice 
being offered him to depart and to be with Christ, . 
be chose to be here, how much more ardent will he 
show his love there !" 

Here it may be asked, whether it is within the 
verge of probability that St. Chrysostom, when he 
speaks of these things in this manner, could have 
believed it lawful and beneficial for a Christian to 
pray to any other mediator, or through any other 1 
intercessor in heaven, than Christ alone ? "I want 
no mediator." " She applies not to the Apostles." 
" Who shall pray for us, now Paul is gone 6 ?" Is it i 
conceivable that, had he practised the invocation of 
saints, he would not have alluded to it here ; and have 
assured his disciples that, though Paul was absent, 
yet he was still carrying on the office of intercessor, 
and that he should be implored by us to carry it on. 
Instead of this, he tells them, that those who were 
imitators and followers of Paul would pray for them, 
now that Paul was gone. 

i 

But to proceed with the immediate subject of our 
inquiry into what was Chrysostom's faith and practice 
with regard to the Virgin Mary. Is she made an 
exception ? 

For the dignity to which it pleased the Almighty 
to raise her, that she should be the mother of our 
Lord, Chrysostom held the Virgin's memory in reve- 
rence, and he strenuously maintained that she re- 
mained a virgin unspotted to the day of her death. 
But while he professes no sentiments of honour 
towards her which a true and enlightened member of 
the Church of England would not profess; at the 
same time he reflects on her conduct upon one occa- 

5 It may be remarked, that in this passage not Peter but Paul is 
represented as the chief leader and president of the saints, even when 
Peter is also named. 

6 Vol. ix. p. 756. 



St, Chrysostom. 



11 



sion, and speaks of her knowledge and state of mind 
generally with regard to our Saviour, in terms which 
few members of our Church would be disposed to 
employ. 

Chrysostom generally calls the Virgin simply Mary ; 
seldom adding any epithet expressive of her sanctity ' 
and blessedness. He never calls her " Mother of 
God." He declares her to be a pure and unpolluted 
virgin 7 , and finds in the Old Testament types and 
figures by which her office was foreshadowed. In one 
place 8 , he tells us that Eden, signifying a virgin-land, 
in which God, without the work of man, planted a 
garden, prefigured the Virgin, who, without knowing 
a man, brought forth Christ. In another part 9 , he 
considers Eve and the tree of knowledge, and death 
when man fell, to correspond with Mary, and the 
tree of the cross, and our Lord's death, which gained 
for us the victory; that as a virgin's fault caused usto 
be expelled from paradise, so by the instrumentality 
of a virgin, we found eternal life 10 . He thinks her 
superior excellence showed itself in her admirable 
self-command, when she heard announced to her that 
she should bring forth the Saviour, behaving with 
exemplary modesty, instead of being transported by a 
sudden burst of excessive joy 1 . He regards the 
flight into Egypt as a means of making Mary con- 
spicuous, and a bright object of admiration 2 . She 
was given, he says, by the angel to the care of 
Joseph, as she was by Christ upon the cross to John, 
in order to protect and defend herself and her cha- 
racter from reproach and oppression 3 . 

We must now direct our especial attention to three 
passages in the genuine works of Chrysostom, and 
weigh well the import of his words in each as in- 
dications of his general sentiments concerning the 
Virgin Mary. First, his remarks on our Lord's 

7 Vol. iii. p. 16. 8 Vol. iii. p. 113. 9 Vol. iii. p. 752. 
io Vol. v. p. 171. 1 Vol. vii. p. 34. 2 P. 125. 3 P. 57. 
A 6 



12 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

words at the marriage-feast at Cana ; secondly, his 
account of what took place at the cross ; and thirdly, 
his representation of the Virgin's conduct, and our 
Lord's words on that previous occasion, when his 
mother and his brethren stood outside the house 
desiring to see Jesus. The question will force itself 
upon our mind, Could the Virgin Mary have been 
regarded by St. Chrysostom, or by those whom he 
addressed, as she is now regarded by the Church of 
Rome ? 

h His account of the miracle of turning water 
into wine, St. Chrysostom thus prefaces 4 : — 

" No unimportant question is propounded to us to- 
day ; when the mother of Jesus said { They have no 
wine ;' Christ said, 6 Woman, what have I to do with 
thee ? Mine hour is not yet come ;' and though He 
said this, He did what his mother suggested. Invok- 
ing, then, Him Himself who wrought the miracle, let 

us proceed to the solution of the difficulty 

Christ was not subject to the necessity of seasons, for 
He pre-eminently assigned to seasons themselves 
their order; for He was their Maker. But John 
introduces Christ using this expression, 6 Mine hour 
is not yet come/ to show that He was not yet mani- 
fested to the great body of the people, and that He 
had not as yet the full complement of his Apostles; 
but that Andrew and Philip followed Him and no other. 
Nay, rather, not even these all knew Him as He 
ought to be known; not even his MOTHER nor 
his brethren. For after his numerous miracles the 
Evangelist says this of his brethren : 6 For neither did 
his brethren believe in Him.' But neither did those at 
the marriage know Him ; otherwise they would have 
come to Him, and sought his aid in their want. On 
this account He says, 6 Mine hour is not yet come. 
I am not known to those who are present; nay, they 
do not even know that the wine has failed. Suffer 



4 Vol. viii. p. 125. 



St. Chrysostom. 



| tliem to become aware of this first. I ought not to 

I learn this from you ; for you are my mother, and you 
throw suspicion on my miracle. Those who want it, 
ought to come and ask; not because I need this, but 

! that they may receive what is done in full acqui- 
escence/ And for what reason (some one will say) 
after saying, c Mine hour is not yet come,' and after 
refusing, did He do what his mother said ? Chiefly 
to afford to gainsayers, and those who think Him sub- 
ject to times and seasons, a sufficient demonstration 

| that He was not subject to times. In the second 
place, He did it because He honoured his mother ; 

! that He might not appear to contradict her entirely 

| throughout; that He might not expose Himself to the 
suspicion of weakness; that He might not in the pre- 

! sence of so many put his mother to shame ; for she 
had brought the servants to Him. Thus it was that 
though He said to the woman of Canaan, 6 It is not 
meet to take the children's bread and give it to dogs/ 

1 yet He granted the boon afterwards, because He was 
affected by her perseverance. Yea, moreover, though 
He said, 6 1 am not sent but to the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel;' yet afterwards He healed the 
woman's daughter. Hence w 7 e learn that though we 
be unworthy, yet by our perseverance we may make 
ourselves worthy to receive. Wherefore also his 
mother remained, and wisely brought the servants, 
so that the request might be made by more persons. 
She consequently added, c Whatsoever He shall say 
to you, do it.' For she knew that the refusal w r as not 
from want of power, but from the absence of boastful 
display ; and that He might not seem absolutely to 
throw Himself upon the miracle, she therefore brought 
the servants." 

This author's assertion, that Mary was not even 
herself acquainted with our Lord's real character and 
dispensation, is by no means confined to that passage ; 

! in some instances, indeed, it has called forth the ani- 

I madversion of his editors. Thus, in his exposition of 

1 
I 



14 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

the Psalmist's words, which he thus renders, " God 
shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep 
silence/' he says — 

" See you how He proceeds gradually to open his 
word and reveal the treasure, and emit a more cheer- 
ful ray, saying, < God shall come manifestly V Why ? 
When was He not present manifestly ? At his former 
advent. For He came without noise, hidden from 
the many, and for a long time escaping observation. 
Why do I speak of the many ? whereas, not even 
the Virgin who conceived Him knew the in- 
effable mystery, nor even his brethren believed on 
Him ; nor he who appeared to be his father formed 
any high opinion of Him 5 ." 

2. The following is Chrysostom's comment upon 
the act of our blessed Saviour when He commended 
his sorrowing mother to his beloved disciple 6 : — 

" But He Himself hanging on the cross commends 
his mother to his disciple, teaching us to our last 
breath to take every affectionate care of our parents. 
Thus, when she unseasonably annoyed Him, He said, 
< What have I to do with thee ?' and ' Who is niy 
mother?' Bat here He shows much natural affection, 
and entrusts her to the disciple whom He loved. . . . . 
Observe how freely from agitation He does every thing, 
even when hanging on the cross ; conversing with his 
disciple about his mother, fulfilling the prophecies, 
suggesting good hope in the thief. .... Now the 
women stood by the cross ; and the weaker sex ap- 
pears the more manly. And He Himself commends 
his mother, ? Behold thy Son !' Oh, for the honour ! 
With what honour does He invest the disciple ! For 
when He is going Himself away, He delivers her to 
the disciple to take care of her. For since it was 
probable that she as a mother would grieve, and look 
for protection, He with reason commits her to the 
hands of one who loved Him. To him He says, 



5 Vol. v. p. 225. 



6 Vol. viii. p. 505. 



St. Chrysostom. 



15 



c Behold tliy mother!' This He said to unite them in 
love ; and the disciple understanding this took her to 
his own home. But why did He make mention of no 
other woman though another stood by ? To teach us 
to pay more than common attention to our mothers. 
For as we must not know r those parents who oppose 
themselves in spiritual things, so when they interpose 
no obstacle in those matters, it is right to pay them 
every respect, and to place them above the rest, be- 
cause they gave us birth, and nourished us, and un- 
derwent so many thousand dangers. Thus, too, does 
He silence the impudence of Marcion; for had He 
not been born in the flesh, nor had a mother, why 
should He have taken such care of her alone ?" 

3. In Chrysostom's homily on St. Matthew xii. 46, 
we read the comment which we must now quote. We 
do not wonder at the Benedictine editor exclaiming in 
the margin, as he does very quaintly, " Fair words, 
Chrysostom !" Had a member of the Church of Eng- 
land published such sentiments now, he would probably 
have been reproved by members of his own communion. 
The propriety, however, or incorrectness of Chry- 
sostom \s observation, is not at all before us ; but we 
may confidently ask, Could he have addressed such 
a homily to the faithful Christians of his day, if 
either he or they entertained those sentiments w r ith 
regard to the Virgin Mary, which are professed by 
our Roman Catholic brethren ; if he^ or the Church, 
had then invoked her in supplication, or trusted to her 
intercession, and mediation, and advocacy ; and sung 
praises to her as the Queen of heaven, in dignity, and 
power, and glory, above the Seraphim 7 ? 

" What I lately said, that if virtue be absent all 
besides is superfluous, this is now proved abundantly. 
I was saying that age, and nature, and the living in a 
wilderness, and all such things were unprofitable, un- 
less our principle and purpose were good ; but to-day 



7 Vol. vii. p. 467. 



16 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

we learn something more, that not even the conceiving t 
of Christ in the womb, and bringing forth that won- « s 
derful birth, hath any advantage, if there be not j; i 
virtue ; and that is especially manifest from this cir- k * 
cumstance 8 : c While He was yet speaking,' says the j 
Evangelist, 6 some one says to Him, Thy mother and 
thy brethren seek Thee ; and He said, Who is my 
mother, and who are my brethren?' Now, this He : 
said not because He felt ashamed of his mother, nor I) 
with the intention of denying her who brought Him |i 
forth ; (for had He been ashamed, He would not have 
passed through her womb ;) but it was to show that \ 
she would derive no advantage from this, unless she 
did her duty in every thing. For what she was then 
undertaking was the effect of excessive ambition ; [ 
for she wished to show to the people that she com- i 
manded and controlled her Son, she having as yet i 
formed no high opinion of Him. Consequently, she 
comes to Him unseasonably. 

" Now, see the foolish arrogance 9 both of her- 
self and of them. Whereas they ought to have en- 
tered, and heard Him with the multitude ; or had they 
been unwilling to do this, to have waited till He had 
finished his discourse, and then to have approached 
Him ; they call for Him out : and this they do before 
all, exhibiting their excessive ambition, and wishing to 
show that they commanded Him with great authority. 
A point this 'which the Evangelist marks with dis- 
approbation ; for it was to intimate this, that he said, 
< While He was yet speaking to the multitude as 
much as if he had said, ' What ! was there no other 
opportunity ? What ! could they not have con- 
versed with Him in private ? And what after all did 

8 Even Calvin dissents from this view of Chrysostom (which is also 
the view of Ambrose), and says their views are groundless and unworthy 
of the piety of the Virgin. Calvin in loc. vol. vi. p. 142. 

9 'Android, vesana quazdam insolentia et animi elatio. Steph. The 
Benedictines translate it arrogantia ; the Library of the Fathers, 
" Self-confidence." 



St. Chrysostom. 



17 



! they want to say ? If it was on the doctrines of the 
! truth, then it was right He should propound them to 
! all in common, and to speak before all that others 
! also might be benefited ; but if it was on other sub- 
jects interesting to themselves, they ought not to have 
been thus urgent. For if He would not suffer a man 
to bury his father, that his following of Him might 
not be broken off, much more ought not his address 
to have been interrupted for things which were not of 
interest to Him.' Hence it is evident that they did 
this solely out of vain glory. And John shows this 
I when he says, c Neither did his brethren believe on 
I Him ;' and 'he records some words of theirs full of 
i great folly, when he tells us that they took Him to 
I "Jerusalem, not for any other purpose, but that they 
might derive glory from his miracles. c If Thou do 
these things,' said they, ' show thyself to the world, 
for no one doeth any thing in secret, and seeketh him- 
self to be conspicuous; 5 at which time He rebuked 
them for this, and reproved their carnal mind. For 
when the Jews reproached Him, saying, 6 Is not this 
the carpenter's son, whose father and mother we 
know? and his brethren are they not among us?' 
they wishing to get rid of the charge from the mean- 
ness of his origin, excited Him to a display of miracles. 
He, therefore, gives them a repulse, wishing to heal 
their malady ; since, had He desired to deny his 
mother, He would surely have denied her, when they 
cast this reproach. On the contrary. He shows Him- 
self to have entertained so great care for her, that on 
the very cross He intrusts her to the disciple who 
was his best-beloved of all, and leaves many kind in- 
junctions concerning her. But He does not so now, 
and that because of his care for her and his brethren ; 
for since they approached Him as a mere man, and 
were puffed up with vain glory, He expels that disease, 
not by insulting, but by correcting them. 

" He did not wish to* excite doubts in the mind, but 
to remove the most tyrannical of passions, and by 



18 Romish Worship of the Virgin, 

little and little to lead to a correct estimate of Himself, i 
and to persuade her that He was not only her Son, ji 
but her Sovereign Lord. You will thus see that the i • 
rebuke was eminently becoming in Him, and profitable \ 
to her, and withal containing much of mildness. He ) 
did not say, c Go, tell the mother she is not my mother f 
but He answered him who brought the message thus, I 
6 Who is my mother?' together with what has been 3 
already said, effecting another object — that neither 
should they nor any others, trusting to their connexions, |f 
neglect virtue. For if it profited HER nothing to J 
be his mother, unless that qualification were added, 
scarcely will any one else be saved in consequence : 
of his relationship. There is only one nobility of I 
birth, the doing of the will of God. This is a kind of i 
good birth far better and nobler than the other." 

In the next section, too long to transcribe into 
these pages, (though its paragraphs contain many 
sentiments, all leading to the same point,) we read 
these expressions : 

" When a woman said, 6 Blessed is the womb 'that 
bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked,' He 
does not say, 6 Her womb did not bear me, I sucked 
not her paps,' but this, c Yea, rather, blessed are they 
who do the will of my Father.' You see how, every 
where, He does not deny the relationship of nature, but 

He adds that of virtue The same object He is 

effecting here [as in his remonstrance with the Jews 
as children of Abraham], but less severely, and with 
more gentleness ; for his speech related to his mother. 
He did not say, 6 She is not my mother, they are not 
my brethren, because they do not the will of my 
Father.' He did not pass his sentence, and condemn 
them ; but left them the option, speaking with a con- 
siderateness which became Him. 6 He that doeth the 
will of my Father, he is my brother, and sister, and 
mother; so that if they wish to be such, let them 
enter upon this path.' And when the woman cried 
out, 6 Blessed is the womb that bare Thee,' He says 



St. Chrysostom. 19 

j not, 6 She is not my mother ;' but, 6 If she wishes to 
j be blessed, let her do the will of my Father, for such 
1 a one is my brother, and sister, and mother.' Oh, how 
great an honour ! How great is virtue ! To what an 
| exalted eminence does it carry one who embraces it ! 
! How many women have called that holy Virgin and 
her womb blessed, and have longed to be such mothers, 
and to give up every thing besides ! What is there 
to hinder them ? For behold, He has cut out for us a 
broad way, and it is in the power, not of women only, 
but of men also, to be placed in such a rank as that, 
I rather in a much higher one ; for this far more con- 
stitutes one his mother, than did those labour-pangs, 
j So if that is a cause for calling^ a person blessed, 
1 much more is this, inasmuch as it is paramount. Do 
not, then, merely desire, but also with much diligence 
walk along the path which leads to the object of your 
desire. Having said this, He went out of the house. 
See how He both rebuked them, and also did what 
they desired. The same thing also He did at the mar- 
! riage; for there, too, He rebuked her when she un- 
seasonably applied to Him, and yet did not refuse ; 
by the first act correcting her weakness, by the second 
showing his goodwill towards his mother. So here 
also, He both healed the disease of vain glory, and 
yet rendered becoming honour to his mother, although, 
she was preferring an unseasonable request." 

Thus is the testimony of St. Chrysostom, beyond 
controversy, conclusive against the present doctrine of 
the Church of Rome, as to the worship of the Virgin 
Mary, and against our supposing that the prevalence 
of any religious trust in her merits, intercession, and 
advocacy, was familiar to him. And this brings us 
within the commencement of the fifth century. 

Before we proceed to the evidence of St. Augustine, 
it may be well to refer to John Cassian, who was at 
first one of St. Chrysostom' s deacons, and who after- 



I 
! 



20 Bomish Worship of the Virgin. 

wards removing to Gaul, was ordained priest at 
Marseilles. He composed many theological disser- 
tations in Latin, in which he writes at much length 
on the duty of prayer, and on the objects and sub- b 
jects of a Christian's prayer ; but he speaks only of 
prayer to God, without any allusion to the present f 
influence or advocacy of the Virgin, or to any invo- 
cation of her to be made by Christians 10 . j 

In his treatise on the Incarnation of Christ, he argues ) 
against those who would call Mary Christotocos, 6 She [ 
who brought forth Christ,' and not Theotocos, 5 She | 
who brought forth God but he speaks not^ of any 
worship due to herself on that account His mind 
was fixed upon the union of the divine and human 
nature in Him who was Son of God and of man 1 . 



St. Augustine, a.d. 430 2 . 

Augustine, bishop of Hippo, in Africa, was born 
about a.d. 354, and died at an advanced age, a.d. 430, 
the very year before the Council of Ephesus, to which 
he was summoned. 

When we reflect on the rapidity with which Pagan 
superstition invaded the integrity and purity of pri- 
mitive worship, after the conversion of Constantine, 
and how much the influence of many unhallowed inno T j< 
vations had mingled itself with the spirit ^of Chris- \ 
tianity, when Augustine was first initiated into the 
mysteries of our holy religion, our surprise may be 
great, that his works, full and noble monuments of 
Gospel truth, present so few stains of an unscriptural 
and unprimitive character. We cannot, indeed, appeal 
to him as one who when he was compelled to walk in 
the midst of the furnace yet felt no hurt, and on whose 
garments the smell of fire had not passed (this would 

H 

10 Collat. ix. 1 De Incarn. lib. ii. c. 2. 

2 Paris, 1700. 



St. Augustine. 21 

j have required an interposition of the Most High, 

like that which preserved the three faithful martyrs 
1 in the furnace of Babylon) ; but while some points, 

even in Augustine, indications of frail man, warn 
I us, with voices strong and clear, to look for our 

rule of faith only to the written word of God, to 
| which he himself most constantly appealed ; we have 
! cause for thankfulness, that the great Head of the 
| Church raised up at that season this burning and 
| shining light, who, as the servant of the Holy Spirit, 
i yet still only as a fallible and an erring brother, will 
; continue to enlighten, and guide, and support the 
I cliildren of God, as long as sacred literature has a 

place on earth. 

Augustine found a large portion of the Christian 

world leaning decidedly to superstition, and encou- 
! raging the substitution of human learning and a de- 

fenerate philosophy, for the simplicity of the Gospel, 
rom time to time, as occasion offered, he recalled his 
j fellow-believers from those superstitions to which con- 
verts clung when they professed to resign Paganism 
for Christianity ; and he discountenanced those subtle 
I disquisitions which flattered the pride of our nature, 
j but were little in accordance with the truth as it is in 
Jesus. He found many substituting the angels and 
martyrs, of whom they heard in Christian churches 
and read in Christian books, for the gods many and 
lords many, whom their fathers had served ; and some 
! of his most powerful and eloquent compositions are 
directed to the counteraction of that evil. But he 
did not so vigorously as he might have done, set 
about the utter eradication of the growing bane ; and 
sometimes, in the unrestrained flow of his eloquence, 
he would address the subject of his eulogy in such a 
manner as even to supply arguments from his example 
for the very practices which he disowned. The prin- 
ciple on which he professed to act, in the case of 
, unauthorized novelties in Christian worship, seems, 
' to a certain extent at least, to have guided him gene- 



i 

I 
i 



22 Romish Worship of the Virgin, 

rally :— " Approve of these things I cannot ; reprove 
them more freely I dare not V Still, his pure and 
exalted sentiments on the subject of religious worship 
must have materially tended, within the sphere of their 
influence, to withdraw men's minds from all other ob- 
jects of invocation, and to fix them on the one only su- 
preme God ; as also to withdraw them from all other 
mediators and intercessors, and induce them to anchor 
their hopes on the mediation and intercession of 
Christ Jesus our Lord alone. 

It cannot be necessary to refer to those works, 
which though once attributed to St. Augustine, are 
acknowledged by the best critics, and even by the 
Benedictines, to be utterly spurious ; such, for exam- 
ple, as the " Book of Meditations," in which prayer is 
offered to God through the intercession of the Virgin, 
and prayer is also offered to herself. It is lamentable 
to find some Roman Catholic writers so forgetful of 
the principle which should guide us all, as even at the 
present day 4 to quote passages from such works as 
evidence of Augustine's faith. 

It may be safe and interesting, before we proceed to 
Augustine's testimony on the immediate subject of our 
inquiry, to recal to our minds one or two passages in 
confirmation of the views we have given above of his 
principles and sentiments on Christian worship in 

gG In r his book on " True Religion," Augustine thus 

speaks 5 — . , 

" Let not our religion be the worship ot dead men, 
because if they lived piously they are. not so dis- 
posed as to seek such honours; but they wish Him to 

s Vol. ii. p. 142. Epist. ad Januar. 55, s. 35. 

* See Kirk and Berrington, p. 445. It is painful to observe that 
whereas those authors quote mother cases from the Benedictine editors, 
1700, which (vol. vi. Appendix, p. 103) pronounces this book to be 
a forgery, they here refer to the edition of 1586, without even alluding 
to any doubt as to the genuineness of the work. 

5 Vol. i. p. 786. 



St Augustine. 23 

be worshipped by us, by whom being enlightened 
they rejoice that we are deemed worthy of being par- 
| takers with them. They are to be honoured, then, on 
; the ground of imitation, not to be adored on the 
ground of religion ; and if they lived ill, wherever 
| they be, they must not be worshipped. 

" This also we may believe, that the most perfect 
angels themselves, and the most excellent servants of 
God wish that we with themselves should worship 
God, in the contemplation of whom they are blessed. 

Therefore we honour them with love, not 

j with service. Nor do we build temples to them ; for 
| they are unwilling to be so honoured by us, because 
! they know that when we are good we are as temples 
I to the most high God. Well, therefore, is it written, 
that a man was forbidden by an angel to adore him." 
j Moreover, we think it impossible that St. Augustine 
looked to any other mediator or intercessor than Christ 
alone. Surely his comment on the words of St. John 
he could^ never have left without any modification or 
explanation, had he been accustomed to pray to God 
trusting in the mediation of the Virgin Mary, or of 
any other than the Lord Jesus alone : — 

" 6 We have an advocate with the Father.' Ye see 
John himself preserving humility. Certainly he was a 
righteous and great man who drank from the bosom 
of the Lord mysterious secrets ; he who imbibing 
divine truth from the breast of the Lord uttered, < In 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God/ 
He being such a man said not, 6 Ye have an advo- 
cate with the Father,' but c If any man sin, we have 
an advocate.' He says not, < Ye have,' nor c Ye have 
me ;' nor does he say, c Ye have Christ Himself;' but 
as he puts 6 Christ,' not « himself,' so does he say, < We 
have,' not 6 Ye have.' He had rather put himself in 
the number of sinners, that he might have Christ for 
his advocate, than put himself as an advocate in 
Christ's stead, and be found among the proud who 
must be condemned. My brethren, we have Jesus 



24 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

Christ Himself our advocate with the Father — He is 

the propitiation for our sins But some one j 

will say, ' What then, do not holy persons pray for i 
us (sancti) ? What then, do not the Bishops and chiefs ! 
pray for the people ? Nay, attend to the Scripture, 1 
and see that the chiefs even commend themselves to ; 
the people ; for the Apostle says to the people, 6 Pray- 
ing* at the same time for us also?' The Apostle prays \ 
for the people, the people pray for the Apostle. We; 
pray for you, brethren, but pray ye also for us. Let alls 
the members pray mutually for each other, and the,? 
Head intercede for all 6 ." 

This subject had evidently impressed itself strongly 
and deeply on St. Augustine's mind. Tims we find! 
him again, in his refutation of Parmenianus, ex-r 
pressing himself in words which were they written by 
a divine of our Church now, would be considered to 
have been directed expressly against the present 
errors of Rome. > ; 

" John says, < I write this, that ye sin not.' If it 
had followed thus, and he had said, 6 If any one sin, 
ye have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ 
the righteous, and He is the propitiation for your 
sins,' he might seem, as it were, to have separated 
himself from sinners, so that he might no longer have 
had need of the propitiation which is made by the 
Mediator sitting at the right hand of the Father, and 
interceding for us. This, doubtless, he would have said, 
not only proudly but also falsely. And had he thus 
said, £ This have I written to you that ye sin not; and 
if any man sin, ye have me for a mediator with the 
Father, and I pray pardon for your sins' (as Parme- 
nianus somewhere puts the bishop as a mediator be- 
tween the people and God), what good and faithful 
Christian would endure him ? Who would regard him 
as an Apostle of Christ, and not as antichrist? 
..... All Christian men mutually commend them- 

6 Vcl. ii. part i ; . p. 831, 



Si. Augustine. 25 

selves to each other's prayers : but He, for whom no 
! one intercedes, while He intercedes for all, is the one 
1 and the true Mediator, the type of whom in the Old 
Testament is the priest; and no one is there found to 

j have prayed for the priest Thus let the 

1 mutual prayers of all yet toiling on the earth, ascend 
to the Head who is gone before us into heaven, in 
whom is the propitiation for our sins. For were Paul 
a mediator, so w T ould his fellow-apostles be mediators; 
and Paul's reasoning would be inconsistent with him- 
j self, by which he said, 6 There is one God, and one Medi- 
| ator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus 7 .'" 
| These are by no means solitary passages; indeed 
the works of St. Augustine breathe the same spirit 
throughout. We will refer, however, only to one 
more passage, which is found in his " Confessions 8 ." 

" Whom could I find who could reconcile me to 
Thee ? Was I to betake myself to the angels ? With 

what prayer? By what sacraments? The 

I Mediator between God and man must have some- 
what of the likeness of God, and somewhat of the 
likeness of man ; lest being in both cases like man, 
he might be far from God ; or being in both like 
God, he might be far from man, and so would not 
be a mediator. . . . The true Mediator whom by thy 
secret mercy Thou hast shown to the humble, and 
whom Thou hast sent, that by his example they might 
learn humility, that Mediator between God and man, 
Jesus Christ, appeared between sinful mortals and the 

righteous and immortal One How didst 

Thou love us, O good Father, who sparedst not thine 
only Son, but didst deliver Him for us ungodly men ! 
Deservedly is my hope strong in this, that Thou wilt 
heal all my infirmities by Him who sitteth at thy 
right hand, and intercedes with Thee for us; other- 
wise I should despair." 

Is it possible to conceive that this holy man, when 

7 Vol. ix. p. 34 
[664] 



8 Vol, i. pp. 93, 194. 

B 



26 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

he presented his prayers to the blessed and eternal 
Trinity, carried to the throne of grace in his heart, 
or on his tongue, the advocacy of any being, save 
only the eternal Son of God and man ? 

To the question, What is St. Augustine's testimony 
as to the worship of the Virgin Mary ? the only an-/ 
swer which can be made is this — That from the first 
to the last page of his voluminous works there is noti 
found a single passage which would lead us to sup-n 
pose that he either prayed to her himself, or was 
aware that the invocation of her formed any part of 
the worship of his fellow- Christians, either in their j 
public assemblies, or at their private devotions ; nor; 
is there a single expression which would induce us to 
believe that Augustine looked to her for any aid, spi- 
ritual or temporal, or placed any confidence whatever 
in her mediation and intercession. On the contrary, 
there is accumulated and convincing evidence, that he 
knew nothing of her worship, let it be called dulia, orp 
hyperdulia; that he was a stranger to the doctrine 
of her immaculate conception, her assumption into 
heaven, and to festivals instituted in honour of her. In: 
a word, though he maintains strong opinions on some 
points left open by our Church, his belief and senti->; 
ments in all essentials corresponded with the belief and j 
sentiments of the Church of England, and were ut-;« 
terly inconsistent with the present belief and practices 
of the Church of Rome, 

Many of the spurious works ascribed to St. Augus- 
tine contain passages strongly impregnated with 
errors, which owe their origin to an age long after 
he was taken to his rest ; and such spurious works 
are still quoted, without any intimation of their doubt- 
ful or supposititious character. Thus, in a work called 
« The Manual of Devotion, by Ambrose Lisle Phi- i 
lipps, Esq., of Grace Dieu Manor" (Derby, 1843), 
the author says 9 , " The ancient Fathers of the early 

» P. 98. 



St. Augustine. 27 

I Church give us full warrant to apply to the blessed 

! Virgin all the passages of Scripture which may also 
be applied to the Church. Thus the glorious St. Au- 
gustine, bishop of Hippo, in the third discourse to 

| the catechumens on the creed, applies the vision of 
St. John the Evangelist, in the 12th chapter of the 
Apocalypse, where he sees a woman clothed with the 
sun, and a crown of twelve stars on her head, as refer- 
ring to our blessed Lady. Vol. vi. Paris, 1837; p. 965." 
It is astonishing to find this sermon thus quoted as 
St. Augustine's, when in the very volume in which 
it is found, the editor prefaces the sermons (to the 

I third of which the above author refers, as an ac- 
knowledged work of St. Augustine, and without the 
'slightest allusion to its condemnation as spurious) 
with this heading (p. 930), €S Here follow three other 
sermons on the creed, which by no means bring Au- 
gustine before us, to whom hitherto, in former edi- 
tions, they have been ascribed ; but an orator far his 
inferior in the character of his speaking, in learning, 
and in talent." 

St. Augustine is not one of those who, either from 
the scantiness of his remains, or the nature of his 
works, might leave us in doubt as to his sentiments 
on this head ; for he is led, in very many parts, to speak 
of the Virgin Mary, her nature, and her character, 
both directly and incidentally. On two subjects of 
especial interest to him, he is led to speak of her in 
every variety of light: the one subject is the incar- 
nation of the Son of God ; the other is the institution 
of the life of virginity by professed and devoted vir- 
gins, a life which he says originally derived its dignity 
from her 10 . He maintains that Mary was a devoted 
virgin before the angel's salutation, and that so she 
remained to her death. He considers her a bright 
example of religious and moral excellence ; and 1 for 
the honour of our Lord, he w T ishes no question 



10 Vol. v. p. 296. 1 Vol. x. p. 144. 

B 2 



28 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

to be entertained as to her being guilty of sin. He 
says that her question 6 How shall this be ? ' did not 
imply a want of faith in her, but only a desire to know 
God's pleasure 2 ; and that she conceived Christ in her L 
soul through faith, before she conceived Him in her ) 
womb. He calls her The Virgin Mary, The Holy* f 
Mary, The Mother of our Lord, a virgin when she [ 
conceived, when she brought forth, and when she 
died. He never uses the expression c Mother of 
God.' ^ 

He speaks of the Virgin dying 4 , but he alludes not 
to her assumption. He speaks of the conception 5 of ( 
her by her father and mother, but he expressly says 
ahe was conceived and born in sin, though she herself 
conceived without spot or stain of sin, and gave birth \ 
to the sinless Saviour. Instead of representing her as 
the bride and spouse of the Almighty (a title too 
commonly applied to her by our Roman Catholic 
brethren), he represents her as the chamber 6 only in j- 
which the Divine Word was, as a bridegroom, united \ 
to his human nature as his bride. He considers the 
tradition which represents the Virgin as having been 
the daughter of Joachim, of the tribe of Levi, to 
have been drawn by Faustus 7 from an apocryphal 
source; and if he were induced to regard Joachim as 
her father at all, he would consider him as appertaining 
not to the sacerdotal tribe of Levi, but the regal tribe 
of Judah. He tells us that angels adore Christ in the 
flesh 8 , sitting at the right hand of the Father; but for 
any rejoicing of the angels on the Virgin's admission 
to heaven, such as the Roman service on the day of 
her supposed assumption asserts, we look into Augus- i 
tine's works in vain. 

But it will be more satisfactory to quote more fully 
some few of the passages which embody his senti- 

\ 

2 Vol. v. p. 1167. 8 Vol. v. p. 251. 4 Vol. vi. p. 289. 

5 Vol. iv. p. 241 ; vol. x. p. 654 ; and vol. iii. part i. p. 268. 

6 Vol. iii. part ii. p. 354. 7 Vol. viii. p. 427- 

8 Vol. v. p. 970. 

i 



SL Augustine. 29 

inents on the subject of our inquiry: many such there 
are, edifying and interesting in themselves, as well as 
j valuable testimonies on the point at issue. The ques- 
I tion will repeatedly force itself on the reader of St. Au- 
I gustine. Could this writer have suppliantly invoked the 
| Virgin? Could he have hoped for acceptance with 
God, through her intercession ? If, for example, we 
j examine his treatise on the twelfth verse of the second 
chapter of St. John — " After this he went down to 
Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, 
and his disciples 9 ," we read this comment : — 
j " You will find that all the relatives of Mary are 
j brethren of Christ ; but the disciples were still more 
S his brethren, for even those relatives would not have 
j been his brethren had they not been his disciples ; 
] and without any reason would they have been his 
brethren, had they not acknowledged their brother 
for their master. For in a certain place, when his 
mother and his brethren were announced to Him as 
standing without, and He was speaking with his dis- 
I ciples. He said, 6 Who is my mother, and who are my 
brethren ?' and stretching forth his hand to his dis- 
ciples He said, 6 These are my brethren ; and whoever 
will do the will of my Father, he is my mother, and 
brother, and sister;' therefore was also Mary, because 
she did the will of the Father. In her the Lord 
magnified this, that she did the will of the Father, not 
that flesh gave birth to flesh. Attend to this, my 
dear friends. Wherefore, when the Lord seemed the 
object of admiration in a crowd, working signs and 
wonders, and showing what was hidden in his flesh, 
some souls admiring Him said, 6 Happy the womb 
that bare Thee ;' and He answered, ' Yea, happy are 
they who hear the word of God and keep it.' This 
is to say, Even my mother, whom you call happy, is 
therefore happy because she keeps the word of God, 
not because in her the Word was made flesh and dwelt 



9 Vol. iii. part ii. p. 369. 
B 3 



30 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

in us ; but because she keeps the Word of God, by 
which she was made, and which was made flesh in her. 
Let not men rejoice in their temporal offspring ; let 
them leap for joy, if they are in Spirit joined to God." 

At the commencement of his book on Virginhood, ; 
he thus comments on the same passage 1 : 

"What else does he teach us but to prefer our 
spiritual family to oar carnal relationships? and that 
men are not blessed, because they are joined to just 
and holy men by kindred, but if they are united with 
them by obeying and imitating their instructions and f 
moral character. Consequently Mary was more 1 
blessed by receiving the faith of Christ than by con- 
ceiving the flesh of Christ Finally, what did 1 

their relationship profit his brethren, that is, his re- 
latives according to the flesh, who did not believe on 
Him ? So also the near relationship of a mother 1 
would have profited Mary nothing, unless she had 
carried Christ more happily in her heart than in the 
flesh. He, the offspring of one holy virgin, is the 
ornament of all holy virgins ; and they, together with 
Mary, are mothers of Christ, if they do his Father'swill; 
hence also Mary is in a more praiseworthy and blessed 
manner the mother of Christ. He spiritually exhibits 
all these relationships in the people whom He has 
redeemed; He regards as his brothers and sisters holy 
men and holy women, because they are joint heirs in 
the heavenly inheritance. The whole Church is his 
mother, because she truly bears, by the grace of God, 
his members, that is, his faithful ones. So, likewise, 
every pious soul is his mother, doing the will of his 
Father with most fruitful love, in those whom she \ 
brings forth, until He be formed in them. Mary, 
therefore, doing the will of God, is bodily only the 
mother of Christ, but spiritually his mother and his 
sister." 

In his comment on our Lord's address to his mother 



1 Vol. vi. p. 342. 



St Augustine. 



31 



at the marriage-feast, Augustine deems it necessary 
to refute the false inferences of two opposite classes of 
men : first, those who from the words, "Woman, what 
have I to do with thee ?" maintained that Mary was 
not the mother of the Lord Jesus; and secondly, those 
fatalists (mathematicians he calls them) who alleged 
Christ's last words to her, " Mine hour is not yet 
come," in proof that our Saviour Himself was under 
the necessity of destiny. In his refutation of the 
latter error, there is nothing which we need quote 
here. In his answer to the former, his words may 
help us in forming a correct view of the habitual 
sentiments entertained by him of the Virgin, and of 
her office and character : 

" The Lord, when invited, came to a marriage 2 . 
What marvel that He should go into that house to a 
marriage, who came into this world for a marriage ? 
For had He not come to a marriage, He would not 
have had a bride. He has a bride, whom He redeemed 
by his blood; and to whom He gave the Holy Spirit 
as a pledge. He rescued her from the thraldom of 
the devil ; He died for her transgressions ; He rose 
again for her justification. Who will offer so much 
to his bride ? Let men offer any adorning presents 
of the earth, — gold, silver, precious stones, horses, 
slaves, fields, and farms ; will any one offer his own 

blood? But the Lord, secure in his death, 

gave his own blood for her, whom, at his resurrection. 
He might have, whom He had already united to 
Himself in the Virgin's womb. For the Word is the 
bridegroom, and his human flesh is the bride; and 
both are one Son of God, and the same the Son of 
man. When He was made the Head of the Church, 
that w T omb of the Virgin Mary was the bride-chamber : 
then He went forth as a bridegroom out of his chamber. 
As the Scripture saith, 6 He went as a bridegroom out 
of his chamber, and rejoiced as a giant to run his 

2 Vol. iii. part ii. pp. 354, 355. 357- 



32 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

course,' — He went from his chamber as a bridegroom, 
and being invited He came to a marriage. For some 
undoubted mystery, He seems not to acknowledge the 
mother from whom he proceeded as a bridegroom. 

"Why then does the Son say to the mother, < What 
have I to do with thee, mine hour is not yet come ?' 
Our Lord Jesus Christ was both God and man ; in 
that He was God, He had no mother ; in that He was 
man, He had. She, therefore, was the mother of his 
flesh, the mother of his humanity, the mother of the 
infirmity which He took upon Him for our sakes. 
But He was about to perform the miracle according 
to his divinity, not according to his infirmity ; in that 
He was God, not in that He was born a weak man. 
The weakness of God is stronger than man. His 
mother required Him to perform a miracle ; but He, 
as it were, does not acknowledge his human origin 3 , 
when about to effect a divine work ; as though He said, 
To that part of me which works the miracle, thou 
didst not give birth.' < Thou didst not give birth to 
my divinity ; but because thou gavest birth to my 
infirmity, I will then acknowledge thee when that 
infirmity shall hang upon the cross.' For this is the 
meaning of 6 Mine hour is not yet come.' For then 
He, who truly had always known her, acknowledged 
her. And before He was born of her, He had known 
her in predestination ; and before He, as God, created 
her, of whom He, as man, was created, He had known 
his mother ; but at a certain hour, in a mystery, He 
does not acknowledge her; and at a certain hour, in 
a mystery, He again acknowledges her. He then 
acknowledged her, when that to which she gave birth 
was dying ; for that was not dying by which Mary 
was made, but that was dying which was formed from 
Mary ; the eternity of the Godhead died not, but the 
infirmity of the flesh died. He consequently makes 
this answer, distinguishing in the faith of the disciples 



3 Viscera humana non agnoscit. 



St. Augustine. 33 

who it was that came, and by what way ; for He, the 
God and Lord of heaven and earth, came by his 
mother, a woman. In that He was the Lord of the 
world, of the earth, and the heaven, He was Lord also 
of Mary; in that He was the creator of the heaven 
and the earth, He was the creator also of Mary : but 
according to what is said, ' Made of a woman, made 
under the Law,' He was the son of Mary, Himself the 
Lord of Mary, and the Son of Mary ; the creator of 
Mary, and Himself created from Mary. 

" Marvel not that He is both Son and Lord ; for 
as of Mary, so also of David, is He called the son, 
and of David is He therefore called the son, because 
He is the son of Mary. In the same manner, then, as 
He is both the son and Lord of David — the son of 
David according- to the flesh, the Son of God accord- 
ing to his divinity ; so is He the son of Mary accord- 
ing to the flesh, and the Lord of Mary according to 
his Majesty. Therefore, because she was not the 
mother of his divinity, and it was by his divinity that 
the miracle was about to be performed, He answered, 
6 What have I to do with thee ? But do not think that 
I shall deny thee as my mother ; for then I will acknow- 
ledge thee when the weakness of which thou art the 
mother shall begin to hang upon the cross.' Let us test 
the truth of this. When the Lord suffered, as the 
same Evangelist (who had known the mother of the 
Lord, and who even at this marriage-feast introduced 
the mother of the Lord to us) himself relates, — 6 There 
was about the cross the mother of Jesus ; and Jesus 
said to his mother, Woman, behold thy Son, and to 
the disciple, Behold thy mother.' He commends his 
mother to his disciple, He who was about to die before 
his mother, and to rise again before his mother's 
death, commends his mother; as a human being He 
commends to a human being, a human being : this had 
Mary brought forth. That hour was then already 
come of which at that time he had spoken, c Mine 
hour is not yet come.' " 



34 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

Here we cannot but advert to an essential dif- 
ference constantly forcing itself on our notice, between 
the manner in which St. Augustine employs the funda- 
mental truth, that the Son of God was born the Son of 
man of the Virgin-mother of her substance, and the 
turn generally given to the same truth by Roman 
Catholic writers. They employ that truth to exalt 
Mary, and to draw our minds to a contemplation of 
her exalted nature, and excite our praise towards her. 
Augustine employs the same truth to fix our thoughts 
on the atonement, to excite in us a lively faith in 
Christ alone, and to fill our hearts with thanksgiving. 
He is ever drawing our minds away from the means 
to the end, from the instrument to the agent; from 
the Virgin to God. Thus, "Mary believed, and 
what she believed was effected in her. Let us also 
believe, that what was effected may also be profitable 
to us V 

Thus, too, in a sermon on the Nativity he says— 
" Therefore that Day, even the Word of God, the 
Day which shineth on angels, the Day which shineth 
in that country whence we are sojourners, clothed 
Himself with flesh and is born of a Virgin. . . . . We 
were mortals, we were oppressed by our sins, we 

were bearing our own punishment . Christ 

is born, let no one doubt to be born again ; let his 
mercy be poured in . our hearts. His mother bare 
Him 'in her womb ; let us also bear Him in our heart 
The Virgin was filled by the incarnation of Christ; 
let our hearts be filled by the faith of Christ. The 
Virgin brought forth the Saviour ; let us also bring 
forth praise, let our souls be fruitful to God V J 

But so many instances of this habitual reference 
from Mary to God, from her office as mother to our 
duty as Christ's members, present themselves through- 
out the works of St. Augustine, that the difficulty is 
not to find, but to choose; not to gather, but to se- 



4 Vol. v. p. 951. 



5 Vol. v. p. 890. 



St. Augustine, 35 

lect from what we have gathered ; and on this imme- 

j diate point we will only add one more specimen : it is 
from a sermon on the Nativity 6 : — 

66 With reason, then, did the prophets announce 

j that He should be born ; and the heavens and angels 
that He was born. He lay in a manger, who held 
the world ; He was an infant, and the Word. Him 
whom the heavens do not contain, the bosom of one 
woman bare. She ruled our Ruler ; she carried Him 
in whom we are; she gave suck to our Bread: O 

j manifested weakness, and wondrous humility, in 
which the whole Divinity thus lay hid ! The mother 

j to whom in his infancy He was subject, He ruled by 

I his power; and her whose breasts He sucked, He fed 
with truth. May He perfect his gifts in us, who did 
not abhor to take on Himself our origin ! May He 
Himself make us the sons of God, who for our sakes 
willed to become Son of man." 

Although the importance of St. Augustine's testi- 

I mony has induced us to dwell thus long on his works, 
yet we cannot anticipate the regret of any one at our 
closing this number with another passage in itself 
most animating to the Christian, and at the same time, 
though not so fully, nor so much in detail as other 
parts of his works, yet virtually presenting to us the 
habitual sentiments of this great master in the Chris- 
tian Israel on the nature of angels, and on the part in 
the work of our redemption to which the Virgin Mary 
was called. On the words of the 149th Psalm, " He 
hath made them fast for ever and ever: He hath 
given them a law which shall not be broken :" Au- 
gustine says: — 

u All heavenly things, all things above, all powers 
and angels, a city on high, good, holy, blessed ; 
from which, because we are wanderers, we are yet 
miserable ; and whither, because we are about to re- 
turn, we are blessed with hope ; and where, when 

| • . - : A\ , A . Jim 

6 Vol. v. p. 882. 



36 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

we shall have returned thither, we shall be blessed in-, f 
deed. What precept do you think the heavenly beings 
and holy angels have? What precept did God give to 
them ? What, except to praise Him ? Blessed are they 
whose business it is to praise God ! They plough not, 
neither do they sow; they grind not, neither do they 
dress food ; for these are works of necessity, and: 
no necessity is there. They steal not, they plunder, 
not, they commit not adultery ; for these are works of , 
iniquity, and no iniquity is there. They break not 
bread to the hungry, they clothe not the naked, the. 
stranger they take not in; they visit not the sick, r 
they reconcile not the contentious, they bury not the r 
dead ; these are works .of mercy, and no misery on^ 
which mercy might be shown is there. O blessed 
ones ! Do we think we shall be thus ? Ah ! let us 
sigh and groan for it. And what are we, that we 
might be there? Mortals cast forth, cast away, earth 
and ashes. But He who promised is omnipotent. If 
we look to ourselves, what are we ? If we look tor 
Him, He is God, He is omnipotent. Will not He 
make an angel of a man, who made man of nothing? 
Or would God esteem man for nought, for whom He 
was willing that his only Son should die ? Let us 
look to the proof of his love. We have received such ! 
an earnest of God's promise. We hold fast the death 
of Christ; we hold fast the blood of Christ. Who, 
died ? The only One. For whom did He die ? We 
mio-ht have wished it had been for the good— for the f 
just But, what? Christ, says the Apostle, died for 
the ungodly. He who gave his own death for the 
ungodly, what does He reserve for the righteous, but 
his own life ? Let then human weakness raise itself 
up ; let it not despair, nor crush itself, nor turn itself 
away, nor say, < I shall not be.' He who promisee* 
is God, and He came that He might promise. He, 
appeared to man, He came to take upon Himself our; 
death, to promise his life. He came to the country 
of our sojourn, to receive here what here abounds— 

i 
1 



St Augustine. 



37 



Teproaches, scourging, smiting on the cheek, spittings 
in the face, revilings, a crown of thorns, hanging on 
the tree, the cross, death. These things abound in 
our country, and to this treatment He came. What 
did He give here ? What did He receive here ? He 
gave exhortation, He gave doctrine, He gave remis- 
sion of sins : He received reproaches, the cross, and 
death. He brought from that country good things to 
us, and in our country He endured evils. 

" Yet He promised us that we should be there, 
whence He came ; and He says, 6 Father, I will that 
where I am, there may they also be V So great love 
went before. Because where we were, He was with 
us ; where He is, we shall be with Him. O mortal 
man, what hath God promised thee ? That thou 
shalt live for ever. Thou dost not believe ! Believe, 
believe ! What He hath done already is more than 
He hath promised. What has He clone ? He has 
died for thee ! What has Fie promised ? That thou 
shalt live with Him. It is harder to believe that the 
Eternal One died, than that a mortal should live for 
ever. We have that already which is the harder to 
believe. If for man's sake God died, shall not man 
live with God ? Shall not man live for ever, for 
whose sake He who is eternal died ? 

" But how did God die ? and whence did God die ? 
and can God^ die ? He took FROM THEE that 
whence He might die for thee. He could not die except 
as flesh ; He could not die except as a mortal body. 
He clothes Himself where He might die for thee ; He 
will clothe thee where thou may est live with Him. 
Wliere did He clothe Himself with death ? In the 
virginity of his mother. Where will He clothe thee 
with life? In the equality of his Father. Here 
He chose for Himself a chaste chamber, where He 
might be united, a bridegroom with his bride. The 
Word was made flesh, that He might be the head of 
the Church ; for the Word Himself is not part of the 
Church, but took upon Himself flesh that He might 

[^64] c 



38 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

be the head of the Church. Somewhat of ours is al- 
ready above, namely, what He received here, where 
He died, and was crucified. Already have certain 
first-fruits of thee gone before, and dost thou doubt 
that thou shalt follow 7 ?" 

The evidence of St. Augustine is clear, strong, and 
manifold against the doctrine and practice of the 
Church of Rome with regard to the^ blessed Virgin 
Mary ; and his testimony brings us into the second 
quarter of the fifth century. 

7 Vol. iv. p. 1676. 



THE END. 



WHAT IS ROMANISM? 



No. XVI. 



ON THE 

ROMISH WORSIHP OF THE VIRGIN. 

EVIDENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH 
AGAINST IT. — Concluded. 




SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE; 

SOLD AT THE DEPOSITORY, 

GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, 
NO. 4, ROYAL EXCHANGE; 
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 



665] 



1846. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



The present Tracts form part of a series intended to be 
issued, on some of the chief and most prevalent errors of the 
Church of Rome. The following have already been published :— 

I. On the Supremacy of the Pope. 
■ II. On Pardons and Indulgences granted by the Pope. 

III. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels. 

IV. On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 

dence of the Old Testament against it. 
V On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the New Testament against it. 
VI On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it. 
VII On the Invocation of Saints and Angels.— Evi- 
dence of the Primitive Church against it— 
[continued], 

VIII On the Worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary.— 
Doctrine and Authorized Services of the 
Church of Rome. 
IX. On the Worship of the Virgin.— Practical Work- 
ing of the System. 
X. On the Worship of the Virgin Mary.— Evidence 
of Holy Scripture against it. 

XI. On the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. 

XII. On the Worship of the Virgin.— Evidence of the 

Early Church against it. 
XIII On the Worship of the Virgin Mary. -Evidence 
of the Primitive Church against ^-[continued]. 
XIV On the Worship of the Virgin-Evidence of the 
' Primitive Church against it— [continued]. 
XV On the Romish Worship of the Virgin.-Evidence 
of the Primitive Church against ^continued]. 

XVI On the Romish Worship of the 

of the Primitive Church against i?-[concluded\ 



WHAT IS ROMANISM ? 



Romish Worship of the Virgin. — Evidence of the 
Primitive Church against it ( continued ). 



St. Jerome, a.d. 418 *. 

In the estimation of Roman Catholic writers, the 
name of Jerome — "the greatest master of the 
churches "—stands among the highest, if not the 
very highest, of the early fathers of the Christian 
Church. He was bora in an obscure town ; but as 
his biographer assures us, he was nourished from the 
cradle with the pure milk of catholic truth 2 . He 
was the friend and the oracle of Pope Damasus; and 
by the canon law of Rome, not only are his own 
books received implicitly, but of the works of some 
other writers, those only are stamped with authority, 
" which the most blessed Jerome does not reject 3 ." On 
the question before us, we are led to attach more than 
ordinary importance to his testimony, because the 
state and condition of the Virgin Mary as the mother 
of our Lord, repeatedly formed the subject both of 

1 Verona, 1734. 11 vols. fol. 2 See vol. xi. p. 14. 

3 See Gibert, Jur. Can. 1732, p. 12. See also Sacrosancta Cone. 
Paris, 1671, p. 1263. 

A 2 



4 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

his discussions with those whose opinions he contro- 
verted, and of his instruction^ to those who esteemed 
him as their teacher in Christian truth \ 

And what is the character of his evidence? He 
speaks of Mary as a holy virgin and a holy mother, 
and propounds her as an example of purity to all- 
He says, Death came by Eve, and life by Mary ; but 
from the first to the last page of his voluminous works, 
embracing every variety of theological subject, not 
only does no single expression occur to warrant the 
conclusion that Jerome looked with faith to the inter- 
cession of the Virgin, or ever invoked her aid or her 
prayers, but nothing meets us which would imply his 
knowledge that any dependence on her intercession, 
or any invocation of her aid, prevailed in any part of 
the Catholic Church in his day. No intimation is 
o-iven to us of any festival instituted to her honour ; 
we find no allusion to her immaculate conception ; to 
the miracles attending her death, or to her assumption 
into heaven. 

We need quote only one or two passages, to enable 
us to form a correct opinion of Jerome's sentiments 
as to the object of religious worship, and as to any 
invocation of the Virgin, or any trust in her mediation. 

« We' worship not nor adore, I do not say the relics 
of martyrs, but neither the sun, nor the moon, nor 
angels, nor archangels, nor cherubim, nor seraphim, 
nor any name that is named, in the present world or 
in the world to come, lest we serve the creature rather 
than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. We honour 
the relics of martyrs, that we may adore Him whose 
martyrs they are ; we honour the servants, that the 
honour of the servants may redound to the Lord 5 ." 

The Council of Trent declares that the Virgin 
Mary, by the special privilege of God, never was 

* Vol. i. p. 231, p. 120, and p. 679. 

5 For a fuller reference to passages in the works of Jerome, bearing 
on the inquiry before us, we refer to the Romish Worship of the 
Virgin, p. 300, &c. Note vol. i. p. 720. 



St. Jerome, 



j chargeable with any sin at all ; and, consistently with 
the worship now offered her, less could scarcely 
have been expected. But many of the ancient teacli- 
j ers in the Christian school took a very different view 
j of this point. We ha^e already seen how St. Basil 
contradicts this notion, in his interpretation of Si- 
meon's ^ prophecy, and how St. Chrysostom agrees 
with him; and the words of Jerome on the same 
Scripture are these : — 

" Simeon 6 then says, 6 And a sword shall pierce 
j through^ thine own soul also. ' What is that sword 
I which pierced through the hearts not of others only, 
j] but also of Mary ? It is plainly written, that at the 
j time of the Passion, all the Apostles were offended ; 
j our Lord Himself also saying, 6 All ye shall be offended 
this night.' Therefore, all of them together were 
offended ; so that Peter also, the chief of the Apos- 
tles, denied him thrice. What ! do we suppose, that 
when the Apostles were offended, the mother of our 
Lord was free from the offence? If she felt not 
| offence at the passion of the Lord, Jesus did not die 
j for her sins. But if all have sinned, and come short 
of the glory of God, being justified by his grace and 
redeemed, surely Mary also was offended at that time. 
And this is what Simeon now prophesies, 6 Thine 
own soul also'— thine, who knowest that thou, being 
a virgin, without a husband didst bring forth — who 
didst hear from Gabriel, 6 The Holy Ghost shall 
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall 
overshadow thee,' shall the sword of unbelief pierce 
through ; and thou shalt be struck with the point of 
the weapon of doubt, and thy thoughts shall tear and 
distract thee, when thou shalt see Him whom thou 
hast heard to be the Son of God, ancl whom thou 
knowest to have been conceived without the seed of 
man, crucified and die, and be subject to human 
punishments, and at last lamenting with tears, and 

6 Vol. vii. p. 300. 
! a 3 



i 



Romish Worship of the Virgin. 



saying, 4 Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass 
from me/ " 

, Again, on the passage, " When the days of their 
purification (so he reads it, eorum) were accomplished," 
he says " The purification of^what persons ? If it 
had been written on account of TIer purification, that 
is, Mary's, who had brought forth, no question would 
have arisen ; and we should have confidently said, 
that Mary, who was a mortal, needed purification 
after childbirth 7 ." 

Again, on the passage, " And they understood not 
this saying," Jerome's words — very obscure and doubt- 
ful on some points, but clear and decisive in the point 
before us— are these, " Observe this also, that as long as 
He was in the possession of his Father, He was above; 
because Joseph and Mary had not yet a full faith, 
therefore they could not remain above with Him, but 
He is said to have gone down with them 8 ." 

Now, whether we regard these as the sentiments of 
Jerome himself, or as Origen's sentiments translated 
by Jerome, and left without any note of disapproba- 
tion by him, it may be asked, Could these men have 
believed what the modern Romanists profess to be their 
belief, as to the Virgin Mary ? Is the faith of the 
Church of Rome, or of the Church of England, the faith 
of the primitive Fathers ? The dissatisfaction evinced 
by the Benedictine editor at "these audacious accu- 
sations " of Mary by Origen (for so he calls them), 
suggests the only answer— The primitive Fathers of 
the Christian Church did not entertain the same 
thoughts and the same belief, as to the Virgin Mary, 
which the Church of Rome now suggests, and teaches, 
and requires in her members. The correctness of 
the views of 'Origen or of Jerome, is not the^ point 
before us ; our only question now is, what their sen- 
timents really were. 

Surely had Jerome felt that the Virgin Mary was "the 



* Vol. vii. p. 285. 



8 Vol. vii. p. 309. 



Vincent of Livens. 



7 



| ground of his hope;" had he "invoked her protec- 
tion and guidance had he been aware of such feelings 

; or such practices prevailing among his Christian con- 
temporaries, indications of this must have shown them- 
selves, in some part or other of his works ; but nothing 
of the kind is discoverable 9 . 

Vincent of Lirens, 440. 

Vincent, called "of Lirens" from an island, or, 
as Bellarmin says, from a monastery of that name, 
| was the author of a short but celebrated work called 
J " Commonitoriurn," directed against the heresies which 
I had perverted Scripture doctrine, and disturbed the 
peace of Christendom. In his introductory remarks 
he points out with equal brevity and clearness the use 
of primitive tradition in our inquiries after Apostolic 
truth, and the faith once delivered to the saints. 
In this work a passage occurs which on every ac- 
j count deserves our serious attention. Vincent having 
stated that Nestorius held that there were two sons, 
one who was God from the Father, the other, man 
born of his mother ; " consequently that the holy 
Mary is not to be called Theotocos, because, forsooth, 
of her was born not that Christ who was God, but 
that Christ who was man," thus proceeds : — 

" Through this unity of person, by reason of a like 
miracle it was brought to pass, that the flesh of the 
Word growing entirely from his mother, God the 
Word Himself is with most truly Christian faith be- 
lieved, and is with greatest impiety denied, to have 
been born of a virgin. This being the case, let no 
one attempt to defraud the holy Mary of the privi- 
leges and special glory of Divine grace. For by the 
singular gift of our Lord and God, her Son, she must 
be most truly and blessedly confessed to be Theotocos; 

, 9 For the reasons which exclude a work ascribed to Basil of 
! Seleucia from the list of the genuine remains of the early Fathers, see 
. (i Worship of the Virgin," p. 310. 

A 4 



I 



8 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

not, however, in that sense Theotocos in which a , 
certain impious heresy supposes her to be, asserting 
that she is only to be called Mother of God by a 
figure of speech, because she brought forth that man 
who was afterwards made God ; just as we speak of 
the mother of a bishop or a priest, not because she 
gives birth to one already a bishop or priest, but by 
producing that man who was afterwards made priest 
or bishop. Not so is the holy Mary Theotocos ; but 
for this reason rather, because in her most hoty w r omb [ 
the mystery was effected, that by a singular and soli- 
tary unity of person, as the Word was flesh in flesh, 
so man is God in God." 

After making this most explicit declaration of our 
true catholic faith \ " that the Word, the Son of the 
Father, very and eternal God, of one substance w T ith 1 
the Father, took man's nature in the womb of the 
blessed Virgin of her substance;" and after reprobat- } 
ing with sentiments of abhorrence the rashness and 
impiety of those who would rob the Virgin of her I 
lawful character and honour as the mother of that 
man w r ho was very God, — how does Vincent of Lirens 
proceed ? Had he been trained in that school which 
offers religious invocation to the Virgin, and prays to 
our heavenly Father through her mediation, and pro- 
fesses to honour her above angels and cherubim, and 
to regard her as the chief source of a Christian's hope, 1 
surely some intimations of such principles could not 
have failed to show themselves in this place. But 
nothing of the kind appears. The author does imme- 
diately pronounce blessings, and honour, and rever- 
ence ; yet not the Virgin Mary, but the Church, 
which maintains the truth as to the person of Christ is 
the object of his pious admiration ; he draws a compa- 
rison between what is going on in this world and the 
exalted duties and office of the holy angels ; but it is 
the profession of the true faith in Christ, not the glory * 
of the Virgin Mother of which he speaks : — 
1 Second Article of the Church of England. 



Orosius and Sedulius. 9 

" Blessed Catholic Church, which worships one God 

in the fulness of the Trinity, and also the equality of 
I the Trinity in one Godhead. Blessed Church, which 

believes that there are two true and perfect substances 
j in Christ, but Christ to be one person. By that (the 
! unity of person) we confess both man to be the Son 

of God, and God to be the Son of the Virgin, 
j Blessed, therefore, and worshipful, praised, and most 
j holy, and altogether to be compared with the praise of 

angels above, is that confession which glorifies one 

Lord God in threefold holiness." 

Orosius and Sedulius. 

j 

Among the doctors approved of by the Roman 
j Canon Law, are Orosius, whose date is about a.d 400, 
and Sedulius, who lived, probably, to the year 440; 
we therefore refer to their works. Orosius, a Spa- 
niard, wrote seven books on the history of Rome, in 
which he traces the hand of Divine Providence pre- 
, paring the way for the Christian dispensation. Here 
he speaks of the Saviour as the Son of God and Man, 
the offspring of the Virgin. He wrote also a work 
on the freedom of the will, in framing which many 
opportunities would have offered themselves to him 
of referring to the Virgin, had he associated the 
idea of sinless perfection with her name. He refers 
to St. Paul, and St. Peter, and St. James, and Zacha- 
rias, and^ the Canaanitish woman, and others; but to 
the Virgin Mary he makes no reference at all : and 
he speaks of Christ as the only mediator and inter- 
cessor. 

Sedulius, in his beautiful Christian poems, speaks 
much of the Virgin as the mother of Him who was 
God from eternity, and man born in this world ; and 
he speaks of her as the person through whom the way of 
life was effected. But in his writings we find nothing 
to countenance a Christian either in addressing her in 
j prayer, or in praying to God through her mediation. 

! a 5 



10 



Romish Worship of the Virgin. 



Cyril of Alexandria, a.d. 440. 

Cyril who became Bishop of Alexandria, a.d. 412, 
is said to have been present at Chalcedon, a.d. 403, 
when St. Chrysostom was deposed. By many he was 
called the rule or standard of sound doctrine. His 
writings have never had so able and thorough an ex- 
amination with the view of separating the genuine 
from the spurious as they deserve. The Benedictines 
left him untouched; and a work attributed to him, 
but which carries with it its own condemnation as the 
corrupt version of a rhapsody composed long after this 
Cyril's time, is at the present day appealed to in sup- 
port of the worship of the Virgin 2 . 

It is not necessary that we should acquiesce in all 
the interpretations of Scripture adopted by this truly 
evangelical and apostolic man, in order to feel senti- 
ments of admiration and gratitude for his example in 
one essential point ; we mean his habitual reference to 
holy Scripture in support of whatever he advances as 
to doctrine or practice. It is indeed cheering and 
animating to witness in him so steady and constant 
an appeal to the word of God. " Our hope is all in 
Christ," is the golden sentiment with which he closes 
his treatise on the Right Faith 3 ; and the same prin- 
ciple seems to have filled his whole soul and guided 
his life. The thoughts of his heart appear to have 
revolved round God in Christ as their centre ; the in- 
carnate Word is all in all to him : he shows that he 
needed no other mediator than Jesus Christ ; he looked 
for no other intercessor in the unseen world. In his 
genuine works we have much satisfactory proof that 
he neither invoked the Virgin Mary, nor prayed to 
God through her mediation. 

The subject which mainly occupied his thoughts 
compelled him to refer constantly to the blessed Vir- 

2 Paris, 1638. See "Romish Worship of the Virgin," p. 348, &c. 

3 Vol. vL p. 180. 



Cyril of Alexandria* 



11 



gin. His mind seems to have been absorbed in the 
duty of establishing the true doctrine then assailed 
! from opposite quarters, that the blessed fruit of her 
! womb, the Lord Jesus Christ, was perfect God and 
j perfect man. In his references he speaks of her 
I always with respect and reverence as the mysterious 
Virgin Mother. He tells us that East and West con- 
fessed Mary to be Theotocos 4 , "parent of Him who 
was God/' He calls her generally the Holy Virgin ; 
but he speaks as though her office was discharged 
when she had given birth to the Redeemer. 

Many of Cyril's sentiments assure us that he 
! thought and spoke of the Virgin Mary as we of the 
Church of England now do ; though some of his ex- 
I pressions would seem to sink below that reverential 
j feeling which our language generally implies. 

Cyril's comment on the miracle at Cana 5 of Galilee 
is full of interest ; and his reflections on the act of our 
Lord in consigning his mother to the care of St. John 
deserve a careful perusal throughout, as containing 
! important evidence on the subject of our inquiry. 
We need, however, cite only a few extracts from the 
latter, of the genuineness of which no doubt can be 
entertained : — 

" The divine Evangelist introduces as standing by 
the cross his mother, and with her the other women, 
evidently weeping; for the female race is, we know, 
much given to tears. What induced him to dwell on 
such minute points as to specify the tarrying of the 
women there ? His object was to teach us this : — that, 
as was probable, the unexpected suffering of our 
blessed Lord gave offence to his very mother; and 
the death upon the cross being very bitter, and be- 
sides this the mocking of the Jews, and the soldiers 
probably watching him at the very cross, and laugh- 
ing to scorn Him who hung upon it, and in the very 
sight of his mother daring to divide his garments, 



4 Vol. vi. p. 30. 



5 Vol. iv. p. 135 ; vol.iv. p. 106*4. 
A 6 



12 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 



threw her somewhat off from the reasoning which be- 
came her. For doubt not that she admitted some 
such musings as these 6 — c I gave birth to Him who 
is now laughed to scorn upon the cross ; but when 
He said He was the true Son of Almighty God, per- 
haps He was deceived. How could He who said, ■ 1 
am the life,' be crucified ? How could He be seized 
and bound by the cords of his murderers ? Why did 
He not master the designs of his persecutors ? Why 
does not He come down from the cross, who com- 
manded Lazarus to return to life, and astonished all 
Judea with his miracles ? " 

"It is exceedingly probable that the female mind, 
(to yvvaiov,) not knowing the mystery, should slip 
into some such reasonings as these. We may well 
believe that the nature of those events was dreadful 
enough to turn from its course even the most sober 
mind ; and it is nothing marvellous if a woman was 
made to stumble into this state. For if the chief of 
the blessed disciples himself, Peter, once was 
offended when Christ spoke and taught plainly that 
He was to be delivered into the hands of sinners, and 
to suffer the cross and death, so that he hastily ex- 
claimed, ' That be far from Thee, O Lord/ what 
wonder if the delicate mind of a woman should 
be hurried into weaker views ? And this we say, not 
vainly forming conjectures, as some may think, but 
drawn into our suspicion concerning the mother of 
our Lord from what is written. For we remem- 
ber that Simeon the Just when he took our Lord, 
then a babe, into his arms, as it is written, gave thanks 
and said, < Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart 
in peace, according to Thy word; for mine eyes have 
seen thy salvation.' And to the holy Virgin herself 
he said, 4 Lo, this one is set for the fall and rising 

« The reader will bear in mind, that Cyril here only takes the same 
view which Tertullian, Origen,Basil, Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazian- 
zum, Ambrose, Jerome, and others, took before him, of the Virgin s 
faith faltering at the cross. 



j • \ 

Cyril of Alexandria. 13 

j again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be 
J spoken against : Yea, a sword shall pass through thine 
: own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may 
' be revealed.' By the sword he meant the sharp 
attack of the Passion, which distracted the female 
mind into reasonings which were out of place; for 
temptations try the hearts of those who suffer, and 
lay bare the surmisings which are in them." 

Having then beautifully referred to the act of our 
blessed Saviour, in committing his beloved mother to 
the care of his beloved Apostle, as an example of that 
| "honour to parents which is the most precious form 
i of virtue," he adds these sentiments : 

" How could it be otherwise than becoming for the 
I Lord to take provident care of his own mother, when 
she had fallen so as to feel offence, and was confounded 
by disordered thoughts ? for being the true God, and 
looking into the motions of the heart, and knowing 
what was in its depth, how could He but know the 
thoughts which at that time especially disturbed her 
j at the honoured cross ? Knowing, therefore, the 
reasonings which were in her. He delivered her to 
the disciple who was the best instructor in mysteries, 
and who was able w r ell and not inadequately to ex- 
plain the mystery; for he was a wise man and a 
divine, who both receives her and takes her away 
rejoicing, intending to fulfil the whole desire of the 
Saviour concerning her." 

Here Cyril of Alexandria tells us that the Virgin 
Mary was astounded at the unexpected sufferings and 
death of her Son, and was unable to reconcile what 
she then saw with what He had told her of his divine 
nature ; but that we must not wonder at such weak- 
ness and stumbling in her, since even Peter himself 
had felt somewhat of the same disappointment. Here 
he tells us, that when our Saviour saw the disturbed 
state of his mother's mind, arising from her ignorance 
of the divine dispensation, He mercifully intrusted 
her to St. John, a theologian profoundly acquainted 



14 



Romish Worship of the Virgin. 



with the divine will, and able to explain to her the 
whole mystery of Christ's passion. 

With the soundness of Cyril's views, in our present 
inquiry, we have nothing to do ; but is it possible to 
read these passages and not infer that Cyril was very 
far indeed from entertaining those sentiments con- 
cerning the perfection of the Virgin which were after- 
wards propagated, and are still professed by the 
Church of Rome? Can any other conclusion be 
drawn from his argument in another homily, delivered 
to a very crowded audience, in which he speaks in 
such a manner of the prophecy of Simeon addressed 
to Mary, as to leave no doubt that he ranked her, both 
in faith and in knowledge, below the Apostles? w c A 
sword shall pierce through thine own soul also :' by 
the 'sword' meaning perhaps the pain which she felt 
on account of Christ, when she saw Him crucified to 
whom she had given birth, not at all knowing that 
He was stronger than death, and would rise again from 
the dead. And do not wonder at all if the Virgin 
is ignorant on a point on which we shall find even 
the holy Apostles themselves to have been of 
little faith 7 ." 

We will only add one of many passages which 
stand in striking contrast with those representations 
of later times, and which we find even in the autho- 
rized services of the Roman Church, and which 
abound in the works of her divines and the books of 
devotion generally circulated ; those representations, 
namely, in which the Virgin is magnified as a being 
of such surpassing perfections, that far above all 
created beings, principalities, and powers in heavenly 
places; far above all prophets and apostles, angels 
and cherubim ; she stands next to the Trinity, to be 
approached by a worship peculiarly her own. 

Having quoted St. Paul, as applying to Christ the 
title of the Lord of Glory, and as representing 



* Vol. vi. p. 391. 



Isidore. 15 

him to be better than the angels, Cyril thus 
| speaks 8 : 

I "Now to be and to be called the Lord of Glory, 
how is this otherwise than exceeding great, and sur- 
passing every thing created or brought to its birth, 
I pass by mortal things, for they are very small ; but 
I say that if any one should name angels, and enume- 
rate the principalities, and thrones, and dominions, 
and mention also the highest seraphim, he would con- 
fess that these fall far short of his exceeding glory." 

Repeatedly does Cyril of Alexandria thus enume- 
rate all things held in the highest honour by the 
faithful; but neither above the highest of created 
beings, nor among the highest, does he ever mention 

j the Virgin Mary. 

Isidore of Pelusium, a.d. 450 9 . - 

r Isidore, called "of Pelusium," from the mountain of 
that name near one of the mouths of the Nile, where 
the convent stood of which he was the abbot, was a 
disciple of St. Chrysostom, and was renowned as a 
philosopher, a rhetorician, and a divine. His works 
consist almost entirely of epistles to various persons on 
subjects chiefly in immediate connexion with the faith 
and life of Christians. Between two and three thousand 
of those letters have escaped the ravages of time ; and 
it is said they once amounted to ten thousand. In 
the remains of this Christian there are many inte- 
resting and beautiful portions, which no believer can 
carefully read without profit. With regard to his 
evidence on the worship of the Virgin, we need say 
but few words. 

Throughout the long series of his letters, the name 
of Mary is scarcely found at all ; and the passages 
are very few which refer to her as the mother of our 
Lord. The following are the only sentences which 



s Vol. v. p. 697. 



9 Paris, 1638. 



16 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

seem to bear sufficiently on our subject to justify the 
citation of them : and the reader will immediately see 
how far they are from indicating the existence of such 
religious sentiments and practices as our Roman 
Catholic brethren now profess and maintain : 

" 6 I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel/ said the Lord to the Canaanitish 
woman, desiring to fulfil the promise made to Abra- 
ham, having taken upon Him his seed, and having 
i chosen a mother from it, and in her and of her having 
been made flesh and become man, in all things like 
ourselves, sin only except 1 ." 

" The holy volume of the Gospels bringing down 
the genealogy to Joseph, who drew his relationship 
from David, sufficed to show through him that the 
Virgin also was of the same tribe with David, since 
the Divine Law directed marriages to be made be- 
tween persons of the same tribe V 

" You ask, 6 What more ex.travagant tenet, or what 
doctrine different from ours do the deceived and poly- 
theistic Greeks maintain when they write of the 
mother of the Gods; whereas we also believe in a 
mother of God ?' The Greeks acknowledge that the 
mother of their gods, even of the highest, both con- 
ceived and brought forth from incontinence, and 

passions which may not be named But her 

whom we confess to be the mother of our God in- 
carnate, all generations acknowledge to have con- 
ceived one Son, in one solitary way, without seed 
and without corruption." Having described the suf- 
ferings of our Saviour, he proceeds : " His resurrec- 
tion proved Him to be a suffering incarnate Deity, 
and that she who brought Him forth was the mother 
of an incarnate Deity 3 ." 

In another letter, Isidore says, "Let nothing be 
suffered to become an impediment to the Gospel of 
our Lord, and let no distraction of mind attend 



1 Book i. Ep. 121. 2 Book i. Ep. 7. 3 Ep. 54. Ep. 159. 



Theodoret 17 

i spiritual instruction ; nor let the intervention of any 
disturbance interrupt useful discussion : for neither 
did Christ when He was sought for by his mother 
I and his brethren, pay any attention to their call, 
| when He had begun his instruction, and was attending 
! to the salvation of his hearers; showing that spiritual 
things should be held in higher estimation than carnal." 

The evidence of Isidore brings us to the middle of the 
fifth century. 

Theodoret, a.d. 457 \ 

Theodoret was born at Antioch, about a.d. 386. 
He was educated near his native place, and continued 
I to live there till he became Bishop of Cyrus, in Syria, 
I at the age of thirty-six. At Ephesus he was de- 
| prived of that bishopric, but was restored to it at dial- 
cedon, after he had solemnly declared himself a firm 
adherent to the Catholic faith. 

It is impossible to read the works of Theodoret 
without finding evidence of the lamentable extent to 
I which superstition had then shot forth its roots and 
| branches, and encumbered the garden of the Lord. 
In his writings, indisputable proofs present themselves 
that in his time Christians, in their zeal to convert 
their heathen neighbours to the religion of the Cross, 
conceded to them the adoption of saints and martyrs to 
take the place of their fabled divinities of the lower 
ranks; and those saints and martyrs who shed their 
blood, rather than renounce their allegiance to the 
one only God, and their faith in the one only Mediator, 
were themselves made the substitutes of the house- 
hold deities of paganism, and of the tutelary gods of 
the fields, and woods, and mountains, and seas, and 
winds, and storms 5 . To this delusive and fatal prin- 
ciple of accommodating Christianity to the prejudices 

4 Halle, 1769. 

5 Some divines of great authority are disposed to think, that the 
Christians here adverted to did not act upon the principle of accom- 

• modation, hut had themselves been led into the practices, which they 
I recommended to others, by the natural tendency of the human mind 
I to superstition. The evidence of Theodoret on the question before 
| us is not affected by either of these theories. 



18 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 



of the pagan world, and the tendencies of corrupt 
human nature, Christendom may ascribe, with teirs of 
sorrow, a large and fearful share of those superstitious 
tenets and practices, which in times past well nigh 
buried primitive faith and apostolic worship. Theo- 
doret tells us, that the adoption of that principle gave 
great offence to the more enlightened among his 
heathen contemporaries. 

But gigantic and rapid as were the strides which 
the corruption of the truth had even then taken, 
and strange as it must appear to those who have not 
examined the question historically, and traced the 
gradual growth of these superstitions from their first 
germ to their full magnitude, yet the fact is demonstra- 
ble, that the worship of the Virgin Mary came not into 
existence till long after the invocation of the martyrs 
had made its inroads on the integrity of Christian 
worship. In the time of Theodoret, ^the Church is 
proved to have been kept in the primitive faith, still 
free from the worship of the Virgin Mary, and from 
the innovation of addressing God in prayer through 
her mediation. 

The subject which more than any other seems to 
have engaged the thoughts of Theodoret, was^ the 
perfect union in our blessed Saviour of the^Divine 
and human nature. Disputes connected with this 
doctrine too long banished peace from the kingdom of 
the Prince of Peace on earth. These disputes of 
necessity involved at every turn an inquiry into the 
office sustained by the Virgin Mary herself, in the 
mystery of the Incarnation. One question in Theo- 
doret's time was, whether the title, " She who brought 
forth God 6 ," as well as the title, "She who brought 
forth a man 7 ," could be properly applied to her. 
Never did any theological controversy give more 
ample room for the full profession of whatever senti- 
ments of reverence and religion were entertained 
towards her ; and vet we find that the thoughts of 
Christians were then fixed, not on the superior ex- 
c Theotocos. 7 Anthropotocos. 



Theodoret. 



19 



cellence of the Virgin herself,, but on the nature of 
her office in giving birth to the Saviour. The ques- 
tion was, not whether the Virgin was the proper 
object of religious worship, but whether that fruit of 
her womb which the angel pronounced to be the Son 
of the Highest, and to have David for his father • 
Jesus, born of her in Bethlehem, though one Christ, 
was very and eternal God, of one substance with the 
Father, and very man of her substance. 

There are many passages in Theodoret, all leading 
to the same conclusion, that in his view Mary was a 
holy and blessed virgin, ever to be held in reverence 
and honour as the mother and the handmaid of the 
Lord. But in his writings, we find no trace whatever 
of any invocation of her; we meet with no application 
to herself to exert her interest with God ; nor any 
supplication to God to allow the mediation of the 
Virgin to prevail with Him for mercy. He seems 
moreover to intimate that persons in his time were 
beginning, in elucidation of the mystery of the in- 
carnation, to apply to her titles which had not before 
been ascribed to her. 

In Theodoret will be found many passages, which 
lay before us with much clearness the true doctrine of 
the Incarnation, and the general views and feelings of 
himself and his contemporaries on the subject imme- 
diately before us; but we must content ourselves 
with one or two passages. 

" The natures were not confused, but remained in 
their integrity. If we thus view the subject we shall 
see the harmony of the Evangelists : for concerning 
that only-begotten, the Lord Christ, one proclaims 
what belongs to the Godhead, another what belongs 
to the manhood ; and the Lord Christ Himself teaches 
us to take this same view, calling Himself at one time 
the Son of God, at another the Son of Man ; and at 
one time He honours his mother as her wl ic gave 
Him birth, at another as her Lord He chides her V 

8 Vol. iv. p. 105. 



20 



Romish Worship of the Virgin. 



" If we declare Christ to be God and Man, who is 
so foolish as to shun the word c She who gave birth 
to the Man/ in conjunction with ( She who gave 
birth to God ?' for in the case of the Lord Christ we 
employ both appellations; wherefore the Virgin is 
honoured and called 'highly favoured.' What sen- 
sible person would refuse to apply names derived 
from the Saviour's names to the Virgin, who through 
Him is held in honour by the faithful? for it is not 
that He who sprang from her derives his dignity from 
her, but she through Him who was born of her is 
adorned with the highest appellations. If Christ be 
only God, let the Virgin be called and named Theo- 
tocos, as having given birth to Him who by nature is 
God. But if Christ is both God and man, and the 
one nature was always (for He never began to exist, 
being co- eternal with the Father), and the other in 
these last days sprang from human nature, let him 
who wishes to state doctrines, combine the Vir- 
gin's appellations from both these views But 

if any one is desirous of speaking in the panegyrical 
form, and to weave hymns and compose praises, and 
wishes, at all events, to employ the more dignified 
appellations, not stating doctrines but pane- 
gyrizing, and to the utmost holding up to admira- 
tion the greatness of the mystery, let him enjoy his 
bent, and employ the high titles, and praise, and 
admire : we find many such things among orthodox 
teachers. But every where let moderation be highly 
regarded V 

It is to be observed that Theodoret is here checking 
the rising tendency to employ, when speaking of the 
Virgin, the more honourable titles, to the exclusion 
of the less distinguishing appellations ; and that while 
he urges the Christian teacher, when stating doctrines, 
to speak the whole truth, and to refer to the Virgin as 

9 Vol. iv. p. 1303. In "The Romish Worship of the Virgin," the 
reader will find many more extracts from Theodoret, confirmatory of 
the views of his doctrine here given. 



Prosper. 



21 



the mother of the Man, in whom dwelt all the fulness 
j of the Godhead bodily, as well as the mother of Him 
I who was God, he expressly gives to the poet and 
panegyrist, when not strictly teaching Christian doc- 
trine, a greater latitude ; but even then not to exalt 
the Virgin, but to extol the mystery. We have often 
traced the error of the worship of the Virgin (or rather 
the invocation of Saints in general) in its origin 
mainly to the enthusiastic and unchastened language 
of popular harangues, and the poetical effusions of the 
panegyrist. To this error Theodoret gives no coun- 
tenance. 

His testimony brings us within the latter half of 
the fifth century. 

Prosper, a.d. 460 10 . 

Contemporary with Isidore of Pelusium, and Theo- 
doret, though a few years younger, was Prosper, of 
Aquitaine, who died about a.d. 463, and whom the 
Roman canon law honours as a very religious man. To 
this character of Prosper we shall all cordially add our 
testimony, as far as the mind and heart of an author 
are discernible by a fellow mortal through his writ- 
ings. His reference of all that we have of spiritual 
good to the grace of Christ alone; his steady constant 
fixing of the eye of faith on our blessed Saviour ; his 
entire renunciation of all human merits; the pure 
love of high and unaffected piety manifesting itself 
throughout ; his strong and warm-hearted exhortation 
to a persevering study of Holy Scripture ; these, with 
his many other excellences, recommend him much to 
every true Christian. His annotations on the Psalms, 
from the hundredth to the last, are in themselves very 
beautiful, and have a truly spiritual and evangelical 
tone pervading them ; and few will not regret that 
we have not the same pious man's assistance in our 
interpretation and Christian application of the larger 



10 Paris, 1711 and 1739. 



22 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

portion of that holy book. In the remains of this 
witness to the truth, we seek in vain for any intimation 
of his hope resting elsewhere than in God alone. He 
bids us proceed boldly to the throne of Grace, trusting 
in the Saviour's atoning blood, renouncing all our 
own good deeds, pleading only for mercy through 
his merits, and hoping to be heard only through his 
mediation. 

We find no passage in which Prosper alludes to the 
Virgin as an object of religious worship, or a source of 
the Christian's hope : he speaks of Christ as the off- 
spring of the unspotted Virgin ; and of her he says 
no more. We need not multiply proofs of this 
religious man's sentiments. In many places he cheers 
us with such sentiments as these l i 

"The confidence of those who hope is in God's 
mercy. Let no one fear because of his iniquities, 
when he would approach God the Lord; only let him 
give up himself with his whole heart, and cease from 
willing and from doing what must displease even him- 
self. Let him not say, that such and such a sin may 
be perhaps forgiven; and another, from its very 
nature, must be punished ; but let him cry out from 
the depths, and let him hope from the morning watch 
even until night ; because his Redeemer, who is with- 
out sin, for this very reason shed his blood for the 
unjust, that He might blot out all the sins of all who 
believe in Him." 

Prosper was a disciple of St. Augustine, and secre- 
tary to Pope Leo. He was not taken to the rest which 
awaits the people of God till about a.d. 463. 

Leo j a.d. 461 2 . 

Leo, the first pope of that name, and a canonized 
saint of the Church of Rome, was advanced to the 
popedom a.d. 440, and having governed that Church 
for 21 years, died a.d. 461. 



1 See Ps. cxl. cxli. cxxix„ 



2 Venice, 1753, 



Leo. 23 

Few saints in the Roman calendar are spoken of 
| with so much reverence as Leo. He is often repre- 
I sented as equal to the Apostles; and with so great 
authority are his works invested, that a.d. 494 Pope 
i Gelasius, and a council at Rome of seventy bishops, who 
j were assembled chiefly to determine what books should 
he held to be canonical, and what apocryphal, what 
should be sanctioned, and what prohibited 3 , having 
numbered Pope Leo's letter, written a.d. 449, to 
Flavian, bishop of Constantinople, among the books 
to be sanctioned, add these words, " The text of which 
J if any one shall dispute, even to a single iota, and 
| shall not receive it in all things with reverence, let 
! hirn be accursed." 

The evidence of such a man must be looked to with 
interest, and the result of our researches is most satis- 
factory. The genuine writings of Leo (his Roman 
editors themselves being judges of their genuineness) 
supply no indication whatever of Leo either praying 
to the Virgin himself, even for her intercession, or of 
j being cognizant of any practice of the kind in the 
Church over which he so long presided. Two 4 homi- 
lies there are ascribed to Leo, said to have been 
delivered by him on the Feast of the Annunciation, 
which present very different views. These, however, 
are pronounced unhesitatingly by the Roman editor 
to be beyond question spurious ; and w r e need not 
refer to them again. Nevertheless, it may be worthy 
of remark, that this is another instance of those 
homilies being proved to be spurious, which profess 
to have been delivered on the Feast of the Annuncia- 
tion, before the beginning of the sixth century ; and 
also of spurious works abounding with marks of the 
Virgin's worship from which the genuine works of 
the writers to whom these spurious w T orks are ascribed, 
through the first five centuries, are entirely free. 

3 So early in the Church of Rome did the system of establishing an 
: Index Expurgatorius begin. 
I 4 Vol. i. pp. 384 and 438. 



24 



Romish JVorship of the Virgin. 



Among the genuine works of Leo we have more 
than ninety discourses or homilies, and upwards > s 
one hundred and seventy epistles, addressed to vari- 
ous individuals, or bodies of men, and embracing 
every variety of subject connected with the doctrine 
and worship, the principles and practice, of Churches 
and of private Christians. Of Leo's discourses ten 
were delivered on our Lord's Nativity, in every page 
of which had he believed and acted as his successors 
now believe and act, he would have been irresistibly led 
to give utterance to his feelings of devotion towards 
the Virgin. But Leo's thoughts were fixed on the 
Saviour Himself, and his heart was full of gratitude 
and adoring love to God ; not on the blessed daughter 
of Eve, the root of Jesse (as he calls the Virgin), the 
mother of Him who was God and rnan. On the 
union of the Divine and human nature in one person 
never to be divided, Jesus Christ, God and man, Son 
both of God and man, Leo is continually speaking 
clearly and powerfully; so he does on the virgin- 
purity of Mary who brought forth the Saviour by 
wondrous birth. But throughout his sermons, and 
throughout his epistles, not one word is found leading 
us to infer that he offered religious praises to the 
Virgin, or invoked her name, or looked to her for any 
benefits, or supplicated her for her intercession. He 
is constantly exhorting his hearers and his brethren 
to join him in prayer; but God alone, through Christ 
alone, is the object of that prayer. 

In Pope Leo we seek in vain for any expression 
to justify the present 5 Pope's profession of confidence 
in the Virgin's guidance, illumination, and protec- 
tion. Here is no appeal to the faithful, "That all 
may have a successful and happy issue, let us raise 
our eyes to the most blessed Virgin Mary, who alone 
destroys heresies, who is our greatest hope, yea, the 
entire ground of our hope." Leo directed his hearers 

5 Pope Gregory XVI. died after these pages were in the press, 
a.d. 1846. 



25 



to God alone as the destroyer of the enemies of the 
I ^uth ; as the Christian's greatest and only hope ; 
I as the dispenser Himself of every blessing to those 

who approached Him in faithful prayer by his blessed 

Son^ as Himself ready to "send down an efficacious 
| blessing on the desires, and plans, and proceedings of 

his servants, and to make his ministers to be as a wall 
I against the invasion of false doctrine." In every one 
■ of these particulars Leo's primitive doctrine and prac- 

tice stand in direct and marked contrast with the sen- 
J timents of the present pontiff. Almost every discourse 
I will supply an example of this in some one point or 

other. Pope Leo knew nothing of the Assumption of the 
| Virgin ; for the legend had not then been framed ; 
j but he does again and again invite his fellow-sinners 
| and fellow-believers to rejoice on the most solemn 

festival of our blessed Saviour's Incarnation. 



Pope Gregory XVI. a.d. 1833. 

1. We select for the date of 
our letter this most joyful day, 
in which we celebrate the most 
solemn festival of the most bless- 
ed Virgin's triumph and assump- 
tion into heaven. 



2. That she who has been 
through every great calamity 
our patroness and protectress, 

3. May watch over us writing 
to you, and lead our mind by 
her heavenly influence to those 
counsels which may prove most 
salutary to Christ's flock. 



[665] 



Pope Leo, a.d. 440, 

1. Our Saviour, dearly beloved, 
was born to-day ; let us rejoice. 
There is no room for sadness. 
No one is cut of? from partaking 
of this joy : all have one common 
cause for rejoicing, because our 
Lord, the destroyer of sin and 
death, as He found no one free 
from guilt, so came to set all 
free. Let the saint rejoice, be- 
cause he approaches the palm of 
victory. Let the sinner rejoice, 
because he is invited to pardon. 
Let the Gentile be instructed, be- 
cause he is called to life (p. 04). 

2; God Almighty succouring 
us through all (p. 162). 

^ 3. I beseech you, by the mer- 
cies of God, assist me by your 
prayers, that the Holy Spirit 
may remain in me, and your 
judgment may not be unstable. 
To this our exhortation the grace 
of God is at hand, and gives sue- 
B 



26 



Romish Worship of the Virgin. 



4. But that all may have a 
successful issue, let us raise our 
eyes to the most blessed Virgin 
Mary, 

5. Who alone destroys all he- 
resies; 



cour, which [5] by revealing the 
truth through the world, has de- 
stroyed the' enemies of Christe 
incarnation, and death, and re- 
surrection ; so that the faithful 
in all the world, agreeing with 
the authority of the Apostolic 
faith, may rejoice in one joy with 
ourselves (p. 258). 

4. Let us then fly to the mercy 
of God, which is every where 
present (p. 16G). That your 
kindness to me may secure its 
intended fruit, do you suppli- 
antly implore the most merciful 
clemency of our God, that he 
would in our days put [5] to 
flight those who oppose them- 
selves to us [7] ; would fortify 
our faith, increase our love, in- 
crease our peace, and vouchsafe 
to make me his poor servant, 
(whom to show the riches of his 
grace, He willed to preside at 
the helm of his Church,) sufficient 
for so great a work and useful to 
your edification, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. 

6. Who is our greatest hope ; 6 and 7- The Grace of God, 
yea, the entire ground of our as we hope, will be present ; and 
hope, will enable us, by your prayers, 

7. May she exert her patron- to perform what we have under- 
age to draw down an efficacious taken (p. 242). 

blessing on our desires, our plans, 
and proceedings, in the present 
straitened condition of the Lord's 
flock. 

In Pope Leo we find evidence of implicit trust in 
God ; no confidence in man's merit ; but a full and 
thankful acknowledgment of the salvation obtained 
by the death of Christ, and made effectual to us by 
the grace of the Holy Spirit, to be obtained by the 
earnest prayer of a faithful and obedient^ Christian, 
We find indications indeed of some rising errors 
which were unhappily soon to invade the integrity of 
primitive faith ; still with Leo, God in Christ is all in all 

In the following, the closing words of his second ser- 



Council of Chalcedon, 27 

mon on the Nativity, he speaks of the purity of the 
I Virgin, and of the birth of Christ as an article of a 
| Christian's creed ; but nothing approaching to invoca- 
l| tion of her, or confidence in her merits, or hope in 
her intercession can be found : — * 

" Praise the Lord, well-beloved, in all his works 
and judgments. Let there be in you a belief without 
doubt of the Virgin-purity, and of the Nativity. 
With holy and sincere devotedness honour the sacred 
and divine mystery of the Restoration of man. Em- 
brace Christ born in our flesh, that you may be ac- 
| counted worthy to see Him as the same God of glory 
jj reigning in majesty, who with the Father and the 
! Holy Spirit remaineth in the unity of the Godhead 
I for ever and ever." 

Pope Leo's testimony brings us far into the third 
I part of the fifth century. 

While Pope Leo presided at Rome, was held that 
celebrated council at Chalcedon, a.d. 451, in which 

I the errors of Eutyches were condemned, and the or- 
thodox faith in the article of the Incarnation of the 
Son of God was established. The grand question 
then agitated was this, — whether by the Incarnation 
our blessed Saviour possessed two natures, the divine 
and human. Subordinate to this, and necessary for 
its decision, was involved the question. What part of 
his nature, if any, Christ derived from the Virgin Mary? 
Again and again does this question bring the name, the 
office, the circumstances, and the nature of that "blissful 
maid," the holy and blessed mother of our Lord, be- 
fore this council, and before those of Constantinople, 
and Ephesus ; all the proceedings at both of which were 
rehearsed at Chalcedon at length. Throughout these 
proceedings the name of Mary is continually in the 
mouth of the accusers and the accused, of the judges 
and the witnesses, and had Christian pastors then 
entertained the same feelings of devotion towards her 

| — had they professed the same belief as to her as- 

l b 2 



28 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

sumption into heaven, and her influence and autho- 
rity in directing the destinies of man, and in protect- 
ing the Church on earth — had they habitually ap- 
pealed to her with the same prayers for her interces- 
sion and good offices, and placed the same confidence 
in her as we find now exhibited even in the authorized 
services of the Romish Ritual; it is impossible to 
conceive that no signs, no intimation, no shadow, 
not the slightest reference to such views and feelings 
should either directly or incidentally have shown 
themselves some where or other, among the manifold 
and protracted proceedings of these three councils. A 
diligent search has been made with the single desire of 
ascertaining how this matter really stands ; and no ex- 
pression can be found, on the part of the orthodox present 
at that famous council, with regard to the Virgin's na- 
ture and office, or with regard to our feelings and con- 
duct towards her, in which a member of the Church of 
England would not heartily acquiesce. No sentiment 
can be discovered implying invocation, or religious 
worship of any kind, or in any degree, directed towards 
her ; no allusion to her assumption is found there. The 
Council of Chalcedon was held at least four centuries 
after the date of that pretended assumption. 

6 Between the death of Leo and the elevation of Ge- 
lasius to the see of Rome about thirty years elapsed. 
The intervening prelates in the imperial city left few 
literary works behind them ; nor does any author of 
note appear to have flourished in any part of Chris- 
tendom during this interval. These pontiffs of Rome 
were Hilarus, a.d. 461, Simplicius, a. d. 467, and 
Felix, a.d. 483. 

Hilarus speaks of " the grace of God," and " the in- 
spiration of the Lord Jesus Christ," as the source of 
mercies ; and in his time the council held at Venice 
speaks of " the Confession of faith in the holy Trinity," 

6 Sacrosancta Concilia, Paris, 1621. The pages in this edition are 
confused, but generally the references will be easily found. 



Gelasius. 



29 



and of a rising superstition called "The Lots of the 
! Saints; " but of the Virgin Mary we read nothing. 

In the Letters of Simplicius and of his correspondents 
! we find continual reference to God's mercy as the 
fountain of hope and blessings; to Christ as the sal- 
vation of the emperor and the strength of his realm; 
and to the mercy of Christ as that power which wards 
off evil, and is the protector of the faithful. But 
throughout there is no mention of the Virgin Mary, 
nor of her influence or mediation 7 . 

In the remains of Felix, though many indications 
| of superstition show themselves, yet no allusion what- 
| ever is made to the mediation or intercession, the 
j patronage, power, or influence of the Virgin Mary. 
I The Roman synod held under him refers to God's 
power in conquering enemies, and to divine grace ; but 
! not the shadow of an intimation is there given that we 
can obtain that grace by the mediation of the Virgin. 
In his letter of admonition and reproof to Peter, 
bishop of Antioch, called the Fuller, warning him 
I against the error of representing the divinity of Christ 
as suffering, Felix dwells at some length on the In- 
carnation of Christ ; and he there speaks of the holy 
purity of the Virgin's womb when Christ was born of 
a woman. But he does not mention the name of 
Mary ; and he applies the prophetic psalm, " Look 
down from heaven, behold and visit this vine," not as 
others have done, to the Virgin, but to " the saving In- 
carnation of the Word." 
Felix died a.d. 492. 

GelasiuS) a.d. 496 8 . 

Gelasius, by birth an African, held that synod of 
seventy bishops, which is usually called the First Ro- 
man Council. In this council, the celebrated decree 
was passed, to which we have already adverted, class- 
ing the works then known, comparatively few in nura- 

7 See pp. 1154. 1042. 1057- 1073, 1074. 1059. 1061. 

8 Sacrosancta Concilia, p. 1263. 
; B 3 



30 



Romish Worship of the Virgin. 



ber, under the two heads of approved and forbidden { 
works. This Pope devoted himself much to the tem- tll 
poral advancement of the see of Rome, and to the I 
promotion of its influence and authority over the rest I 
of the world. In a letter 9 addressed to Laurentius, a J 
bishop of Greece, who seems to have solicited his in- *\ 
terference, Gelasius prescribes a rule of faith to which ij 
he desired all to conform. In this confession his refer- ) 
ence to the Virgin Mary is couched in these terms : — (r 

" We confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the only I 
begotten Son of God before all ages, without begin- \ 
ning, of the Father, as touching* his Godhead, in these ; 
last times was incarnate, and became perfect man, of i 
the most holy Virgin Mary, possessed of a rational ! 
soul, and taking a body; of the same substance with : 
the Father as touching his Godhead, and of the same 
substance with us as touching his manhood. Christ fe 
brought not his body from heaven, but received it I 
from our substance, that is, from the Virgin." 

In his striking dissertation on original sin, and the x 
universal taint and infection of guilt, it is impossible 
that Gelasius could have omitted all mention of the 
Virgin, had the Church of Rome, of which he was f 
Pope, then held the Virgin's total immunity from sin, 
as the present Church of Rome does. We are not \ 
here referring to the doctrine of her own immaculate 
conception in her mother's womb (that is so recent an 
invention, that even St. Bernard, in the twelfth cen- 
tury, reproves the monks of Lyons for giving any 
encouragement to such a novelty), but to an im- 
maculate personal and divine purity in herself, such 
as the authorized services of the Church of Rome, 
and the devotions of her canonized saints, now set 
forth. There is much sound and healthful teach- 
ing in the scanty remains of this bishop, and on the 
point immediately before us, the following sentiments 
seem worthy of our notice and admiration. Having 
reprobated the fundamental error of those who held 
9 P. 1163. 



Gelasius. 



31 



that man 3 by his own strength and exertion, can, in 
this life, reach a state of spiritual and moral per- 
fection, Gelasius thus proceeds 10 : — 

" But should any one assert, that, not by the pos- 

! sibility of human strength, but by divine grace, such 
a state may, in this life, be conferred on a holy man, 

j he surely does right to entertain that opinion with 

J confidence, and with faith to cherish that hope. But 
whether any such have existed, who have ever reached 
to this perfection of the present life, as it is no where 
plainly asserted, so does it become us neither readily 
to affirm, nor to deny it. The more sober course is 

|! from the words of the holy Prophets and Apostles 
themselves (than whom, in truth, in this world, as far 

j as concerns the course of a holy life, nothing ever 
was or is more excellent) to determine to what 
extent we ought to measure our progress in this life. 
These, although by a more abundant gift of God they 
were assailed by very rare or very small failings of 
human nature, and by a fuller affluence of God's 

j grace, they easily overcame the vices of mortality, 
yet themselves testify that they were not wholly free 
from them ; so that it belongs alone to that im- 
maculate Lamb, to have no sin at all ; otherwise that 
might not seem to be imputed to Him alone, if any 
holy one besides should be thought free from sin. Let 
us, then, be content with the confession of the saints, 
and let us rather hear whatever they affirm concern- 
ing themselves, than pursue what may be either rashly 

j entertained in our thoughts, or blown about by our 
own opinions." 

Could such sentiments, without any exception or 
modification, with respect to the Virgin, have been 
written by Gelasius, if she had been habitually an 
object of his contemplation, as a mortal without sin ? 
Both Gelasius and Leo speak of Christ as having found 
no one mortal without sin, when He came to redeem 
all ; no exception whatever being made in favour of 
the Virgin Mary. 

S 10 P. 1240. 



32 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

In a letter to Rusticus, bishop of Lyons, having 
spoken of the storms of evil which pressed him, and 
the trials of affliction by which he was overwhelmed, 
Gelasius, like his predecessor Leo, and unlike his suc- 
cessor, Gregory, in the present day, makes no mention 
of the Virgin, her power and influence, her interces- 
sion, her guidance and watchful care : his^ heart, as far 
as language can be relied upon as an index of the 
heart, speaks only of God. 

" But we faint not, and amidst so many pressures, 
neither does my mind sink, nor my zeal slacken, nor 
does fear cast me down ; but though in straits and 
perplexities, we place our confidence in Him who, with 
the temptation, will provide a way for escape; and 
who, though for a time He will allow us to be^ de- 
pressed, yet will not suffer us to be overwhelmed 1 " 

This letter was written a.d. 494, after which Gelasius 
held the second Roman council, a.d. 495, and in the 
November of the next year he died. This brings us 
within four years of the close of the first five hun- 
dred years from the birth of Christ. Certainly, in 
Gelasius, the bishop and pope of Rome, we see not 
the shadow of any worship of the Virgin at all; 
r othing, with regard to her, in faith or practice, cor- 
responding with the present belief and practice of 
the Church of Rome, either as held and exemplified 
in himself, or as existing, to his knowledge, in any 
part of the Church of Christ in his time. 

Anastasius and Symmachus. 

Gelasius was succeeded by Anastasius II.; and 
Anastasius, who presided over the Roman Church a 
few days short of two years, was followed by Symma- 
chus, whose life extended fourteen years beyond the 
period to which our present investigation is limited. 

In the scanty remains of these two popes, not^ one 
sinole expression occurs from which we could infer 
that the invocation of the Virgin Mary, or any faith 



1 P. 1259. 



Anastasius and Symmachus. 33 

I in her merits and influence was known to them; yet 
| when speaking of the divine and human nature of our 
I Lord, they would have found abundant room for refer- 
| ences to her heavenly influence, had the habitual asso- 
| ciations of their minds led that way. Such references 
| were continually made in after ages. Invariably, how- 
ever, these pontiffs refer to God alone, the first and 
| immediate Giver of every good gift; and " their chief 
hope, yea, the entire ground of their hope," the hope 
of themselves and of their correspondents, is not in 
the Virgin but in Christ. Instead of declaring her to 
be " the sole destroyer of heresies/' they hope in God 
that He will defend his truth, by his own mighty 
power, and silence the oppositions, and upbraidings, 
and corruptions of its enemies. 

Anastasius, in his letter of gratulation to Clovis, 
king of the French, who had just professed Chris- 
tianity, and had been baptized in the true faith, refer- 
ring the king's spiritual birth to God, as the worker 
of it, thus admonishes him : 

"Therefore, glorious and illustrious son, give joy 
to thy mother [the Church], and be to her a pillar of 
iron ; for the love of many is waxing cold, and by the 
cunning of evil men, our barque is tossed by the billows, 
and beaten by the foaming waves. But we hope, for 
hope and against hope, and praise the Lord who hath 
rescued thee from the power of darkness, and hath 
provided for the Church so great a prince, who may 
be able to defend it, and to put on the helmet of sal- 
vation against the invading attempts of the baneful. 
Go on then, beloved son, that God Almighty may 
preserve thy peace and kingdom with his heavenly 
protection, and give his angels charge to keep thee 
in all his ways, and give to thee victory over thy 
enemies round about." 

In the letter of Anastasius to his namesake Anas- 
tasius the emperor, we are struck by his continual 
recurrence to the Scriptures, both of the Old and the 
New Testament, for authority in support of his positions. 



34 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

Symmachus, in his letter of defence against the 
Emperor Anastasius, who had been excommunicated, 
thus speaks of Christ's divine and human nature : 

" Christ is truly wholly God and wholly man ; so 
was He conceived, so lived in the world, so suffered, 
so descended into hell, so was raised again, so ap- 
peared .with his disciples, so was He exalted into 
heaven, and so is it said that He will come again, and 
so is He at this day in heaven V 

To the bishops of Africa, Symmachus caused this 
to be written, (there is a doubt whether he wrote it 
himself, or employed a deacon as his amanuensis,) 
"God will happily accomplish the rewards of your 
confession, when it shall please Him to restore rest to 
the Churches; that by the sweetness of peace He 
may console us for the sorrow which adversity brought 
upon us." 

" Is this done," he says, " from the love of life, or 
from the love of souls, in imitation of their first Shep- 
herd, our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Our 
Hope, who laid down his life for the sheep 3 ?" 

To Csesarius, writing on the restoration of peace to 
the Church, he says : " And if, by the help of God, 
the risen controversy be stayed, let us ascribe that to 
his merits 4 ." 

■ Thus we find that the bishops of Rome itself up to the 
close of the fifth century, who, (as we learn frorn their 
own representation,) in respect to the difficulties in 
which they found themselves and their Church, were 
similarly circumstanced with the present reigning pon- 
tiff, instead of " lifting their eyes to the Virgin Mary as 
their hope, as the destroyer of heresies, as the guide and 
preserver of the Lord's ministers," spoke only of God 
as the author of truth, and peace, and wisdom, and 
safety ; and looked for temporal and spiritual blessings 
to Him alone, through the merits and mediation only 
of his eternal Son, without the intervention of any 



2 P. 1297. 



3 P. 130L 



* P. 1308. 



Conclusion. 



patronage, mediation, influence, power, or intercession 
of the blessed Virgin Mary. 
Symmachus died a.d. 514. 

CONCLUSION. 

We have now brought to a close our proposed task, 
with regard to the worship of the Virgin Mary in the 
Church of Rome. We have seen that in that Church, 
pray er, unequivocal and direct, is now addressed to her for 
her intercession, and for her patronage, and assistance, 
and protection, and for temporal and spiritual graces. 
We have seen that God is petitioned to grant the requests 
of those who pray to Him, for the sake of the Virgin, 
through her merits and intercession. We have seen 
that spiritual praises are offered to her for past benefits, 
and hymns are sung to her glory. We have found 
that Christians are taught to depend upon her as the 
anchor of their souls, and to devote themselves by a 
solemn act of religion to her service, as the Queen of 
heaven and the Spouse of God. 

The pattern, and principles, and fundamental 
ground of all this worship, we find fully and unques- 
tionably existing in the appointed offices, the autho- 
rized and prescribed services of the Roman Ritual ; 
while the excesses and extravagancies of the worship of 
the Vir gin we see in the doctrinal and devotional works 
of her votaries, many of them being canonized saints 
and accredited teachers. It is not for us to accuse our 
brethren in the Church of Rome of idolatry or heresy ; 
though in our own conscience we should ourselves be 
guilty of both, were we to associate any created being 
with Almighty God as the object of our prayer, or 
with our blessed Saviour as our mediator and inter- 
cessor. We condemn not others ; to their own master 
they stand or fall ; but being persuaded in our own 
mind that we should act in direct opposition to God's 
own teaching if we were to pray to the Virgin, or to 
pray to God in her name, pleading her advocacy and 



36 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

trusting to her merits, we at once protest against 
the fundamental errors of that Church which justifies, 
and enjoins, and requires, on pain of excommunica- 
tion, such worship to be paid to the Virgin, as m our 
consciences we consider to invade the province ot 
Almighty God, the Giver of all good, and the pro- 
vince^ the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour, the only 
Mediator between God and man. 

To assure ourselves on these essential points, we 
have first searched the Holy Scriptures; and from 
the first to the last page we find not one iota or tittle 
to suggest, or sanction, or admit of divine worship 
being offered to the Virgin ; but much every way to 
discountenance and forbid it. And to assure ourselves 
that we understand the inspired volume as our tore- 
fathers in Christ received it from the first ; that what 
we hold on this point was the tenet of the primitive 
Church ; and that what we dread as a fundamental 
error was introduced by the corruptions of supersti- 
tion in more recent ages; we have examined to the 
utmost of our ability and means the remains of Chris- 
tian antiquity. Especially have we searched into he 
writings of those whose works (a.d. 492) received the 
approbation of the pope and his council at Rome; we 
have also diligently sought for evidence in the records 
of the early councils; and we find all the genuine and 
unsuspected works of Christian writers, not for a few 
years; or in a portion of Christendom, but to the ena 
of the first five hundred years and more, and in 
«verv country in the eastern and the western em- 
pire, in Europe, in Africa, and in Asia, testifying as 
with one voice that the writers and their contem- 
poraries knew of no belief in the present power of 
ihe Virgin, and her influence with God ; no practice 
in public or private of praying to God through hei 
mediation, or of invoking her for her good offices of 
intercession, and advocacy, and patronage ; no oflering 
of thanks and praise made to her; no ascnp urn ot 
divine honour and glory to her name. On the con- 



Conclusion. 



57 



; trary, all the writers through those ages testify that to 
I the early Christians God was the only object of 
prayer ; and Christ the only heavenly Mediator and 
Intercessor in whom they put their trust. 

The revealed truths of the Bible, and the witnesses 
| of the Christian Church warn us, as with a voice from 
heaven, never to substitute the Virgin for Christ, not 
| even for a moment, not by the most transient appeal 
to God in her name ; never to seek what we need as 
souls on our way to God, from any source but the 
j Almighty, the first Cause of all things, the Giver of 
! every good gift, the God of all comfort, the Rock 
of our salvation, the only Ground of our hope ; and 
i to pour out our hearts before Him, through his 
i only Son alone, who is the way, the truth, and the 
| life. 

We honour the Virgin Mary, we love her memory, 
we would, by God's grace, follow her example in faith 
1 and humility, meekness and obedience ; we bless God 
for the wonderful work of salvation, in effecting which 
: she was a chosen vessel ; we call her a blessed saint 
and a holy Virgin; we cannot doubt of her eternal 
happiness through the merits of Him who was " God of 
the substance of his Father before the world, and man 
of the substance of his mother born in the world." 
But we cannot address religious praises to her ; we 
cannot trust in her merits, or intercession, or advocacy, 
for our acceptance with God ; we cannot invoke her 
for any blessing, temporal or spiritual ; we cannot 
pray to God through her intercession or for it. This 
in us would be sin. We pray to God alone ; we offer 
religious praise, our spiritual sacrifices to God alone ; 
we trust in God alone ; we need no other mediator, we 
apply to no other mediator, intercessor, or advocate, 
in the unseen world, but Jesus Christ alone the Son 
of God and the Son of Man. In this faith, we implore 
I God alone, for the sake only of his Son, to keep us sted- 
I fast unto death ; and in the full assurance of the belief 
| [665] c 



38 Romish Worship of the Virgin. 

that this faith is founded on the Apostles and Pro- 
phets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner- 
stone, we will endeavour, by the blessing of the 
Eternal Shepherd and Bishop of Souls, to preserve 
the same faith, as our Church now professes it, whole 
and undefiled, and to deliver it down without spot or 
stain of superstition, to our children's children, as 
their best inheritance for ever. 



Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London, 



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